


The Distance Formula

by WishStone



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, Game Spoilers, Private Investigators, kannao - Freeform, replay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-01 18:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 174,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5216483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishStone/pseuds/WishStone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the marvelous "The Shortest Distance from A to B", which can be found on FanFictionNet<br/>This story is written from the perspective of Naoto Shirogane. It starts for Naoto with being send to Inaba to assist with a possible serial killer, so a bit before "Shortest Distance".<br/>The story is very much from Naoto's point of view, so be prepared for rambles, stupidly long-winded sentences and maybe more than one eyeroll.</p><p>PLEASE NOTE: Contains all possible spoilers from the get-go. You will get game spoilers till deep into the game in pretty much the first chapter.<br/>Do yourself the favour and Do Not Read if you have not yet played Persona 4 / Golden or if you are still playing.</p><p>Tags will be added as needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Shortest Distance from A to B](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/155384) by zero-damage. 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto Shirogane is the fifth generation of private investigators assisting the official police force.  
> The junior Detective has been summoned to the sleepy town of Inaba, Yasogami prefecture, to assist with a possible serial murder case.  
> Being only 15 is bad enough for the officers directed to work with her. Being female would make it unacceptable. And while she cannot hide her age, she can hide her gender in dress, mannerism and perceived approach.

**May 4th, 2011**

"I have no time to play babysitter!" the graying detective snapped quietly at his supervisor.

 _Not even looking at me_ , Naoto noticed. "I assure you, Detective Dojima-san," she interjected in a low, steady voice, "I will not require you to look after me. I have addressed many similar cases already and find that most police stations have similar filing systems and internal layout. All I do need from you, is to simply co-"

She stopped as the man jumped up, grabbed a stack of files and dropped them roughly on the desk beside which she stood. "I already had to spend the last three days creating this ridiculous overview that you had requested from my bosses. Do you even realize this is Golden Week and I should be with my daughter right now?" He turned his attention back to his supervisor almost at once.

Naoto hadn't moved while he shouted at her. Was this man's concern really about some time off, when there possibly was serial killer in his town? The best thing to do right now, is to simply wait out till the man was more rational again. There was no reason to address him or to react to his emotional state. His outburst none withstanding; she was pleased at the size of the stack of papers he had prepared. The sooner he would finish with his tirade, the sooner she could do what she had been called in for. Right now, she would wait while his supervisor finished the conversation and left them.

She watched as the anger in his bearing had simmered down a bit and the ranting had finally ceased. "They told me you're cold as ice," he muttered, finally looking at her. "Okay, listen. We prepared one of the interview rooms for you. There is a small cot in there, too – we heard what went down in Kyoto and frankly don't want to walk in one some kid sleeping on the floor here."

 _What? How had he-_  no, no she would not do this. A flaring temper was not what was needed right now. The first day was crucial in establishing herself and if this meant ignoring irritations, well, that would simply have to be.

"So far it seems like that will not be needed, Dojima-san. Your colleagues in Kyoto had left vital information out of their reports and staying late hours was vital for the case." Firmly placing a hand on the stack of papers without moving her eyes away from his, she said "Right now, you seem well prepared. I am looking forward to working with you." Be in command of the situation. Show you will not be pushed.

Whatever it was he had wanted to say in reply ran into an inaudible murmur as he turned and simply waved his hand to beckon her to follow him. With a deep breath she squared her shoulders, picked up the stack of folders, and followed the older detective down the hallway.

Glancing about, walking at her measured wide, crisp step, Naoto eyed the dim hallway from under her cap. Nothing about it felt remarkable to her. A typical small-town police station. A few flyers, some public service posters and clip boards beside a door now and again. A break room door stood open, showing a few officers filling out paperwork while holding on to paper coffee cups.

Her guide stopped beside a door, opened it and pointed inside with a court nod.

"Thank you, Dojima-san", she said with a small bow, "I will do my best to avoid troubling you." He scuffed his cheek, grunted, and marched off, fishing for the packet of cigarettes in his shirt pocket.

She turned to look back inside the room. A table, two chairs, a bed with a rough blanket, a small desk against the wall, a chest of drawers and a TV standing on it. She even had a big cork pin board available. Compared to some corners she had been pushed into, this was outstanding in terms of comfort and usefulness. Not that she needed comfort. She had been called in for a very straight-forward job. Track down a killer who had a surprisingly public call sign. Hanging people upside down from high places. That the local police had such issues tracking the matter was incomprehensible to her.

Naoto closed the door and selected the chair facing the door as she sat down. Sitting with your back to the door could mean someone sneaking up or watching over her shoulder after they enter. Avoiding anything that could put her into a weakened position was second nature to her.

Let's start by sorting these papers into smaller stacks. Being organized is the best way to tackle any workload and getting acquainted with the case in installments would help her follow the trail left behind by her perpetrator.

First, putting aside all folders regarding the second found body. Going by the assumption that each murder was just that, stand-alone and not a suicide or a cult would help to not fall for any pre-conceived notions about what should be there or what was too obvious to investigate. She pushed the papers to the far left side of the table. br

On the far right, she placed the folder containing the description of the first crime scene. Left of that, the autopsy file. Left again, overlapping the folders of each of the interviewed witnesses. And to the left of _that_ she placed all other folders which held the file number this case had been assigned.

She stopped to look at the identifier of the case.

"#HC129-DR/AT. Hm." She paused a moment. Had this office really less than two hundred cases of unnatural death since they started their filing system? This certainly was a rural area.

* * *

Seven hours later the room had turned into a typical Shirogane work space.

Naoto was surrounded by a number of reference books about the local area; reports of related crimes in a 50-kilometer radius; folders with copies of previously unsolved cases in Inaba; and the stack of the second murder's folders on the desk by the door at this point.

Her finger trailed over the map on the cork wall showing the two crime scenes; comparing her notes with copies of the documents she had pinned near the locations. Had the staff here not done such basic visualization to compare the locations of the crime scenes? Ridiculous. They possibly had done so, but gave up too soon. Taking their own maps and references down before closing up the case was simply showing their general disregard for the case.

The door opened, and, she noticed with a flash of indignation, without a knock again. Dojima-san was back. He had stopped by a total of four times now. Each time he became more aggravated, but what his upset was he did not say or even hint at. Naoto dismissed it as his mood simply being dour.

"Listen, Shirogane, its past midnight now. I'll head home."

Not looking up from her folder containing the statements of witnesses, she nodded, barely hearing the man. His whereabouts did not matter right now. Getting acquainted with the case and locale however did.

He stood silent in the open doorway and waited.

He will not go until I actually address him. Small talk. Naoto turned away from the map and nodded at him once more. "Yes, very well, Detective. I will be available to you in the morning." He really was fussing. Possibly the problem was her height. The detective just about towered over her. Staying a few steps away from him was possibly advisable, to minimize the appearance of the height difference.

His mouth twisted in a wry manner. "Listen, son, you'll miss the last bus. Want me to drive you someplace? Are you staying at a hotel?"

"Your concern is misplaced, Dojima-san. I am quite capable of arranging my own transportation, should I need to."

The older man rolled his eyes, flapping one arm in annoyance. "Okay. Fine. Goodnight." He pulled the door shut and vanished down the hallway.

Naoto arched an eyebrow at the closed door. Just once it would be nice to have someone overlook her age or height and instead see her current track record. How many more cases would she have to solve before people stopped feeling she was helpless or incompetent?

She placed down her notes to stretch out and her chest felt tight as she did so. Naoto took off her cap to run her hand through her short hair. The collection of evidence in the first case had not covered enough ground. Not to the mention lack of searching the ground around the site. An elaborate placement of the corpse, such as this, should have left unmistakable tracks. Sunken foot prints from carrying the corpse; traces of tools used, witness reports from the people living in the surrounding area. Yet, nothing.

At least so far she had made good progress. Small town or not, the records Dojima-san was keeping were outstanding. Some other paperwork filed by one Adachi had left much to be desired, especially when it came to witness protocol, but so far she had been able to navigate the files without wasting too much time on reference material.

The most pressing question however became this: More caffeine or some sleep? 

She placed her cap down beside another folder of papers and pulled her note book closer. No need to stay up too long, her mental faculties would only suffer. She would just quickly finish up the notes for the day and then walk to the apartment Grampa had organized. Late-night walks helped her sort through what she read, something she had learned early in her life while taking walks in the garden of the estate.

Putting the folders back in order and adding copies of pages to her own brief case, she walked out, locked up her 'office' and left for the apartment. Nothing so far stumped her, except maybe the lack of competence when it came to securing evidence. All things considered, she felt she would find the solution without problem. Yes, this case would not take long at all.

* * *

**May 5th, 2011**

When Naoto had returned the next morning, she found herself lost in the notes from the previous day within minutes of sitting down. She stirred her coffee with her left hand while flicking back and forth through the papers in front of her.

No one had seen Mayumi Yamano for a few days before she was found dead. The staff at the Amagi Inn had been very specific about this, stating that each time they came to ensure their guest was comfortable, they found she had either left or not yet returned to her rooms. She had not taken any meals at the inn. She had also not been seen outside the inn, either.

Unsurprising, really, as she had been taking time away from the public due to the news reports of her affair. She had fully counted on the discreetness of the inns staff. Naoto did not much care about the news that had led to the reclusion of Miss Yamano in the sense of how the victim may have dealt with it, so long as it was not a case of suicide or directly connected to the murder.

So was it jealousy after all? Unlikely. All involved parties in the love triangle seemed to have not been in contact throughout the recent weeks. Both Taro Namatame and Misuzu Hiiragi had not been in direct communication since their separation. They also had separate, solid alibi. When Miss Yamano had withdrawn to the Amagi Inn, none of the involved parties had spoken to one another in days.

Naoto frowned, her spoon stopping for a moment. This leads us back to her having left… But if Mayumi Yamano's aim was to be in retreat, then why would she have left the inn? Leaving the premises would expose her to unwanted attention, so going out for dinner would not have been desirable in her situation.

Lost in thought she sipped her coffee and shuddered. It had grown cold and bitter while she had been reading. Had that much time passed already? Surely not, she had only recently arrived and started to review her own case notes...

Her watch buzzed softly, vibrating against her wrist. It was now nine in the morning. Two hours. She had already been here for two hours. And had not found out anything new yet! Re-reading what she had noted down from the first case was too early, it seemed. She bit off a frustrated sigh and got up to get some more coffee.

It was encouraging to see the station already being well staffed at this time of the morning. She nodded to any officer who greeted her. Stopping to talk to them would be fruitless however, she did not yet know which questions to ask, so her path was straight to the kitchen to refill her cup and return to work.

Closing the door behind her, she sat back down, putting the cup aside for now. Something seemed missing, and as much as she wanted to move on, it bothered her. Miss Yamano's movements did not add up. No one had seen her leave the inn, she had not mentioned any desire to explore the countryside. There was no mention of any visitors, letters left with the concierge or phone calls placed for her. Neither had she made any calls or send any letters through the staff. No taxi or limousine had been called in for her – Naoto had checked up on that yesterday herself, as the police seemed to have forgotten to.

She stood and stepped over to her map. The inn was on the outskirts of town, but not exactly far from any roads, street lights or other houses. Had she been taken by force, she would have been needed to be kept quiet – or was already dead at the time. However, forensics had not found any sign of forced entry, struggle or even a violent act against Miss Yamano in her room or any of the secluded areas of the inn and springs.

Turning her back to the wall, she leaned up against it. Tucking her cap down by habit with her left hand, her right flipped through some pages in her note book. Reviewing the notes on the interviewed parties, all accounts spoke of Yamano as being stressed – some members of the Amagi staff even said she had been rude to her hosts. Unusual, for a public figure. Also unusual for a woman who was used to host live broadcasts, to react badly to stress.

Naoto walked back to the desk and picked up her cup. Maybe I am overthinking this right now. She felt she could not summarize any more data on the first victim, so the next step in her investigation would be the second murder. Clearing off the table, she swapped the stacks of files. Time to look into the second murder in detail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First posted: FFN, September 2015.
> 
> Well, here I go. This story i directly inspired by "The Shortest Distance from A to B". I really tried to find the author before I started to publish this work, however, I was unable to make contact. So, zero_damage, sorry for not making contact with you before I started on this.
> 
> If you have not yet played Persona 4 / Persona 4 Golden, please do yourself the service to hit up the PlayStation Store and buy it. It's about 10 bucks right now and absolutely worth it. This story, as well as Shortest Distance contain MASSIVE spoilers, and the game is really too good to allow that to happen. So, scoot, go play it. A regular play-through is anything from 40 to 80 hours.
> 
> Anyone else, you know the deal: Spoilers coming up, if you didn't guess already, right from the start.
> 
> If you have (for reasons unknown to me) not yet read zero_damage's Shortest Distance, please do, you'll find it here on FFN.
> 
> Of course: The Shin Megami Tensei-Series and the Persona-Series are the property of Atlus; I'm just playing with your toys.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A puzzled Shirogane finds that either there were zero traces at the scene of the crime... or the Inaba Police force is the most incompetent she's ever worked with.
> 
> This only means that she will need to apply herself more, because there is no perfect crime, right?

**May 10th, 2011**

Perhaps praising Dojima-san for the amount of data he had gathered for her on her first day had been a mistake.

Her progress had turned out to be frustratingly slow, as the material provided had not resulted in the quick summary she had hoped for. After nearly a week in Inaba, Naoto was still working on covering the basics of the investigation so far.

While there was an impressive amount of collected notes and information, she found a lot of it lacking; in some cases even fully missing from the police files. Especially the interviews conducted were unsatisfying. Naoto pushed her cap up with her pen, absently chewing on her lip as she poured over the interviews once more. This time she had ordered the interview files by case and conduction time.

First up. Saki Konishi, witness due to being the first person to report the body of Mayumi Yamano – and then the second victim. She was interviewed more than once – quite possibly because she was first interviewed while in shock. She had not been able to tell them too much, Naoto knew. When Miss Konishi had discovered the scene, the body had been at the location for several hours already. Still, Adachi-san must have thought her knowing more. He kept going back to interview her.

Second. Keiko Tsunaku, resident at the first murder location. She had not contributed much, either. All Naoto had gathered from her was that she had been sleep, had not noticed anything during the night and had rushed on the street when she heard Miss Konishi cry out.

Naoto stood up and stretched out, turning over the folder stack. Third. One of the police officers. First officer at the scene of Miss Yamano's body. Practically all he had done, being a regular patrol officer, was secure the scene and the names of witnesses. Again, not much to take from this one.

Fourth. Five different staff members at the Amagi Inn. Two chefs, two of the servant staff and the manager, Miss Amagi. These had been surprisingly well documented and succinct. These had not given her the leads she needed, either.

Sitting back down, Naoto pulled her coffee cup closer and sipped, flipping through the Amagi-interviews once more. Look at the questions. See what is missing. Find the questions you would have asked… Though much to her own annoyance, they did ask the questions she would have. Aside from the stressed nature of their guest, the staff at the inn had not noticed anything out of the ordinary. Reading through it all again would be a waste of time. Close the document, move on.

Fifth. Telephone interview of Misuzu Hiiragi, on tour at the time. This file had both a typed copy and a recording attached. Miss Hiiragi sounded bored, her answers were brief and she generally seems to not even care if her husband-in-separation was a suspect in a murder case or not.

Moving on. Sixth. Taro Namatame, husband of Misuzu Hiiragi, separated. Now this was interesting. A new interview had been conducted after the first, but the filing had been sloppy and the first interview looked very much out of context. She flipped back to the front page and checked the officers name. But of course. Adachi was the one who worked on it.

Naoto was not sure she could make herself think highly of Adachi-san. Yes, he was young, certainly. This was his first assignment since graduation from the police academy, Dojima-san had pointed out when she voiced her frustration. That, and that it wasn't any of some kids' business. But would a young officer just out of the school simply not remember basic filing principles? She kept seeing his work and kept thinking it was of poor quality overall. As things currently stood, time would be better spend working on her case. She had not been requested to work on raising the efficiency of the staff at this office, so for now this would have to remain a thing to keep in the back of her mind.

Interview seven and eight in the time line of interviews. Two of Miss Yamano's coworkers at the TV station. Naoto had had high hopes for these two, but following up was only a matter of a few phone calls to find it had mainly been useless gossip.

And that was it. How? This was already it? Really, how did they stop their investigations at that point? No notes on what other interviews were conducted, either. How was anyone to piece together an understanding from such poor record-keeping?

The second set of interviews had been even less promising. Immediate family, local residents near the site. All in all, only five interviews had been conducted. Ridiculous! That could not possibly been all available information that had been there to secure or locate.

She stood back up and walked to her map on the wall.

The first victim being not from Inaba had seemed important at first. In any community, strangers are often targeted. Be that due to their looks, behavior or simply by not feeling as secure in a space that they are new to. The more she read however, Inaba seemed too quiet and idyllic to invite the type of aggression that is found in bigger cities directed at outsiders.

Naoto turned, resting her back against the wall, tugging down her cap. Her hand remained raised, her eyes glancing without focus on the grayish-brown floor covering. Murder always had a connection to either strong emotion or to utter lack of emotion. Jealousy, rage, fear on one side; lack of empathy, mental illness or the dubious profession of assassin on the other. Due to the prominent location of the victim, paired with the elaborate placement of the body, murder was the only logical conclusion however.

And then there was the second victim.

Someone knocked.

"Yes, enter." Naoto pushed herself off the wall, squared her shoulders and stood up straight to meet the eyes of one of the officers who was now poking his head in.

"Hey, Shirogane, you wanted these copies of the last interview conducted about that Konishi-issue?"

"The murder, yes. Have you finished pulling my latest set of requests, officer?"

The man nodded, plopped three slim folders on the desk by the door, gave a mock-salute and turned to leave, pulling the door shut. Naoto's eyes narrowed at the smirk the man had on his face as he left. Sure, her progress had been slow this time around, but openly mocking her? She needed a fresh lead, and soon, to stem that kind of behavior.

Saki Konishi was a local, unlike Miss Yamano. Naoto had high hopes for the information in her case being much more cohesive and meaningful. That it had turned out to be so meager was both confusing and worrying.

Until now, she had also not been able to link anything aside from Miss Konishi having been the first on the scene of the first murder. She had had no contact with Miss Yamano. Nothing else seemed to connect them, if she went by the information presented to her so far.

Frankly, it was not possible. Inaba was a very small town. She knew it already well enough to no longer need to pay attention when walking to her apartment or stopping by any of the local shops for a bite to eat. How could, in such a small community, one of the locals be murdered and nothing tied them back to anyone else?

She walked over to the desk against the wall and picked up the new stack of papers she had been provided. If nothing else, this could be the next piece she was missing from her puzzle. Sitting back down at the table, she opened the files and started to browse.

In general, the crime around the shopping district was very low-key. A snatched purse, a missing mobile phone. A few years ago, someone had vandalized the shrine. Seriously, who'd come up with taking their boredom out on an already run-down shrine? Pitiful.

But aside from this normal level of vandalism and thievery, nothing else stood out. The bulk of the unnatural deaths in Inaba seemed to be car accidents, accidental drowning ('Quite likely unsupervised children, if the water level of the Samagawa was any indication') and less than a dozen accidents due to food allergies; the last of which had been over a decade ago. Actual murder happened about ten times - in over eighty years.

All in all, this town didn't seem the place that breed murderers. And since they had started with a foreign element, Miss Yamano, the chances were that she had inadvertently brought the murderer with her. So what was it? A crazed fan? A stalker? Someone yet to identify, or indeed someone she had overlooked so far?

Pushing her cap back with the marker she used to highlight sections in the new reports, she continued to browse her new material.

Her cap on her chest, booted feet dangling off the end of the bed, Naoto lay on the cot in her temporary office at the Inaba police station. She wasn't frowning at the ceiling. She was simply concentrating, that's all. No matter what Dojima-san had just said, she wasn't being 'difficult'. She was, however, concerned.

Something was missing. Something big. Whatever it was, Naoto was certain that the moment she'd spot it, it would be obvious. The thought that she could already be overlooking a vital detail gnawed on her. After several days of reading reports, interviews, studying case files and maps she had not yet found a new lead that the police had missed so far. Why? How could a murderer with such a bold call card not be easier to track?

She caught the corner of her lip between her teeth, her eyes glazed, her mind sorting through the data she had absorbed so far.

If we assume that the murderer had killed Konishi because she could have provided witness against him (or her!), why did her perpetrator again take the risk of using the very elaborate call card when placing out the body? According to any of the local reports, the cult of Nyx which had been an issue a few years ago, had never taken on strongly in Inaba, and that was the last known great cult activity. If we search into smaller religious sects, there are simply none on any government radar right now. Maybe checking with the younger population of the city could help.

Or maybe she was procrastinating from finding the true causes.

Swinging her legs off the cot she sat up – and looked across the room at the map. Absent-minded she pulled her cap back on her head and walked to it.

She had taken care to colour-code the locations of the murders, the interview partners, where they lived, where they had been talked to.

Without looking, she pulled one of the needles with the blue flag, the Konishi-colour, from the side of the cork board. After eyeing the map for a moment, Naoto used it to follow the line from the site of her murder to her home. It was not a direct path at all. Strange. The needle returned and tried to connect Junes, her place of employment, and her home in the shopping district. Again, Konishi would not have ended up where she was found. The route was a considerable detour.

Naoto's not-frown deepened as she pushed the tip of the needle back to the site of Konishi's body. Junes. Her home. Her school. None of these had been on-route. In fact, these rice fields were out of all of Saki Konishi's standard pathways.

She pushed the pin back to the far side of the map, turned and picked her coat up from the back of her chair. The basics were covered. It was now time for her to get to the groundwork – sightings of the locale and on-hands investigation of the case.

Not that she would easily show it to the outside world, but in a small space inside her chest she felt excitement. As she had so often read as a child "The game is afoot!" and she very much took pleasure in the part that would come next for her. Filling in all those gaps she felt had been left by the police as she read reports and took notes the previous days.

Right now the questions that interested her the most were these: What, aside from the call sign, connected these two murders? What is there to know about Konishi as a student, as a sister, daughter and as a coworker and neighbor? Miss Yamano's life was quite public, but Miss Konishi attended the local high school. Also, not to forget, finding new people to talk to about the case would be a top priority. Surely the few interviews that had been conducted were a good start to the investigation, but they had barely touched the surface just as surely.

Naoto left the station, pulled her collar up with both hands, tucked her cap down and set out to finally take control of this investigation. 

* * *

 

**May 13th, 2011**

'Politeness. Politeness was key here', she reminded herself. Glaring at the utterly disinterested officer would not speed up his phone conversation or make him wish to assist her with her inquiry. Folding her hands behind her back, she settled in to wait. Standing right beside the desk of the officer. Let him think she felt like eavesdropping, maybe it would finally make him hang up.

As frustrating as these stops in her working routine were, they were still understandable. After all, she was only a private consultant, even if she had the Shirogane name to herself, and civilians simply could not be trusted to walk in and out of sensitive areas on their own liking.

However, sometimes it was simply irritating to wait for access to something she required. Just how long could one repeat "…huh!" and "…Oh, really?" before the other side deemed it would be time to move on and spending their day better? This is why she hated phones. Even text messages to a point. She only send the bare minimum in her messages, to make sure she would not waste her own time, or the time of the recipient.

When the man finally gave her a resigned look and finished up his call, Naoto had noted down two other pieces of information she wanted to review. 'I guess waiting for him to conclude his conversation was not fully wasted time after all.'

"Whattaya need, sonny?" Why did he sound resigned? She had been the one waiting!

"Shirogane. And I would like to request your files on one…" she confirmed with her notes, "Tatsumi, Kanji."

The officer looked surprised. "Really? The Tatsumi kid? Why on earth?"

"There are some unanswered questions concerning his recent movements."

The man shrugged, got up, and entered some queries into a computer standing higher up on a counter. "I know he's a rough kid, but I am not sure he's a killer, you know? I'm just saying, you'll be out wasting your time."

Naoto's jaw clenched, but she kept her face as passive as she could. This, too, simply happened way too often. 'Oh, it could not be such-and-such', 'that's why we never even investigated them fully', or, 'No, that person is right out, we cannot investigate them' – usually because of some political reason. Out of her 24 cases she solved on her own, six alone she needed to keep digging for answers and then keep hunting for someone who would finally listen to her and take action. It was tiresome and delayed work needlessly.

"You concern for my time is noted, officer" she said firmly, "but I was asked to investigate all of the case, and Kanji Tatsumi was seen several times speaking to members of the Konishi family. Not speaking to him would be a crass oversight."

The officer's narrowed eyes shot her a glance from behind the computer before muttering something inaudible.

"I would also like to…" she checked her notes, "…to learn more about the Konishi liquor store. The notes concerning Miss Konishi's interview are confusing and not kept to standard formatting style, so I have problems reading some of the details. Were there any other files that may not have been added to this case?"

The officer glared at his monitor and shrugged mutely.

Naoto settled in to wait for the officer to pull up the needed information and produce a copy for her.

Silences did not bother her. She had learned to use the advantages of prolonged silence for her own use early in life. Why try to fill silence with any verbal communication, when simply observing those around you? There was simply no need to take any action against the absence of verbal communication. Indeed, people spoke too much and said too little as it is.

Naoto kept her neutral expression in place deliberately as she turned to look back into her note pad. Both the Tatsumi family and the Konishis were shop owners in what is known as the old shopping district. How closely linked would these families be? Indeed, how did any of the local shop owners interact with one another here in Inaba? She added another note on her page marked Inquiries.

"All right. Printing your copy."

"Excellent", she replied without looking up, "thank you for your assistance, officer."

Walking from one end of the shopping district to the other should give her a better idea about the social and fiscal situations of the persons involved. Miss Yamano also stayed at a local business. Another note to add: What are the connections between the Amagi Inn and the Konishi Liquor store? If the murders were this elaborate to pull the police on a wrong track, then an investigation into the economic stability of the privately owned business in Inaba might be called for.

She only looked up when a stack of papers was slapped on the counter before her. The officer had turned away with a deep frown and without any further words. He possibly was just busy. No need to take his reaction to heart.

Gathering up the surprisingly thick folder on the Tatsumi youth, Naoto returned to her temporary office.

By now, she had fully given up on interactions with any of the officers. None aside from Dojima-san and Adachi-san had worked directly with the case and the autopsies had been conducted by a medical examiner at the local hospital. Inaba was simply too small to have their own official police team for this. She could learn nothing new from the other officers and as such, interaction with them would only be small talk. An unnecessary activity that would simply distract her from her work.

Pulling off her cap and running a hand through her short hair briefly, Naoto closed the door. Knowing that the police had skipped looking into this young man was promising. She felt she was about to get her first real break in the case.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The obsession is slowly setting in. There simply is no way that any crime is unsolvable and, if anyone, then a Shirogane will be able to find the solution. If this means staking out an entire district of Inaba, or planning to meet up with a potentially violent teen - so be it.

**May 14th, 2011**

Sitting cross-legged on the floor in her apartment's living room, surrounded by a pile of papers, notes, and photographs, Naoto allowed herself a pleased nod. Finally, the matter started to take on shape. The confusion she had felt about the case this far was lifting.

After reading the police reports on Tatsumi, she had identified the heart of Inaba was still the shopping district, regardless of the many times she had been told it was dead, wasted space and useless since Junes now held everything. Why she still wasted time listening to such rumors … well, in this case the why was apparent. She had nothing else to go on at first. An entire week, wasted by mediocre record-keeping and poor investigative skills.

This  _was_  the countryside. People took pride in certain traditional concepts and the Junes chain simply did not cater to many of these needs – perceived or other as they may be. By this very nature she had quickly uncovered a tight net of friendly personal and commercial relations between the inn and a number of the local stores.

Naoto chewed absent-minded on the last (and now-cold) bite of takoyaki she had picked up from the Junes food court on her way home. She had never taken much note of the complex workings of any small town's economics, but having puzzled together the network with the help of some guides from books and online sources, she found them to be nearly as fascinating as the case itself.

Before her on the floor was an enlarged map of what was still known to the locals as the 'main shopping district'. Detailed records on each store and their inventory had been added to her notebook and she had carefully written copies of the bigger points on small post-it notes which she placed near the relevant stores. Having long since memorized each of the highlight-marker drawn arrows, she used the late evening to glance over the map and notes once more before returning to another full-day observation tomorrow.

The plan for the next day was to note down the regular shoppers of the stores, overall patronage, and finalize her observations before she would move on to the next step of interviews she intended to conduct.

She needed to consult Kanji Tatsumi. According to his files, he could be a valuable lead to a number of different sources of information – or provide said information himself. He was known to the police as being involved in the local gangs; he was seen talking to several members of the Konishi family and he might be her proverbial foot in the door to a new direction in her inquiries.

Hopefully one of these leads could loop her right back to the Amagi Inn. It was imperative to investigate the scene but so far she had not been granted any access. As such, finding another way to gain entry would need to be found – and Naoto felt that the shopping district was her entry point.

The inn had regular business with the local liquor store, the textiles and tailoring business, the sundries  _and_  tofu shop. It was not quite to the extent that the inn kept these businesses afloat, but having a steady income from one of the traditional torch-bearers of the community certainly helped. Buying from a reputable store, which did frequent business with a well-respected traditional inn. There were always people who took part of their self-worth from the goods they buy, where they purchase these goods, and the knowledge that others would see them do so. Buying something, even if it is more expensive, could lift their own felt status or morale.

Other stores that could not cater to these tastes – or the sheer feeling of exclusiveness - had gone under. A DVD and computer games rental. A pharmacy. A fruit and vegetable vendor. A hobby store. A florist. Had these stores been able to find out how to stimulate that 'exclusive' feeling that their patrons looked for they could have managed to find a way to stay in business.

That, or simply offer things Junes did not carry.

At the super-store there was no section for traditional medicine. Their selection on books and manga was almost microscopic. And while they had their own liquor section, she had since learned that some local sake breweries refused to deal with Junes.

It would be easy to approach a number of these stores herself. Marukyu had been providing more than one to-go meal in the last week, so asking casual questions would be very straightforward. She would simply be considered a regular customer by now, and local shop keepers often were flush with rumor.

Entering the liquor store as a minor was out of the question, of course, but she needed a more delicate way to initiate any contact with the Konishi family anyhow.

The textiles store could prove a little trickier. She could find some flaw with her garments or create one if she needed a reason to engage their services. However, she needed to avoid being sized by anyone at the store, and seeing the general setup of the store being very classical, chances were that that could not be avoided without seeming suspicious.

She shook her head, licked the skewer and picked up a few bonito flakes from the tray with it.

No, overall any approach of the Tatsumis should be handled very carefully. The risk of being noticed was simply too great. Her experience had made it very clear that her daily masquerade was necessary to ensure her to be able to continue in line of the Shirogane vocation. Thankfully the weather absolutely allowed for her large coat. Unwanted attention to her figure, or questions related to the very male name Naoto and her use of the masculine speech patterns, deeper voice and similar uncomfortable situations would be easily avoided.

Yet, without an examination of the accounts of the Tatsumi family a new break-through seemed unlikely. Naoto pulled the stack of copies labeled "Tatsumi, K." on her lap and flipped through the pages slowly, nibbling absent-minded on the slim piece of bamboo.

The younger Tatsumi had a poor attendance record at school. He had been escorted to class by officers more than once in the last school year. It begged the question if this meant he helped out at the family store, or if he simply was the delinquent that his police file indicated him to be. If he was, perhaps careful planning for her observations of the Tatsumi household as well as possibly questioning Kanji Tatsumi would need to be taken.

Also, a slight jog to direct the young man back to school should be helpful. She needed him in many ways and if he was not joining school, his chances of gathering rumor through that avenue was cut short. Teenagers often brimmed with rumor. Stories about neighbors, friends, perceived foes… and she had no means to tap any it yet.

Naoto suddenly realized that she had been sitting still, staring at the notes surrounding the Tatsumi textile shop, and drumming the takoyaki-skewer on the notes in her lap.

She had simply been up too long. Focus was fleeting and she needed to rest.

Getting up, Naoto left her notes scattered on the floor of her living room, dropped her finished Styrofoam tray and skewers in the trash and got ready for bed.

* * *

**May 15th, 2011**

Sipping from her second can of Mad Bull, Naoto leaned against the corner of the closed pharmacy. From this T-intersection she could easily see the main shopping street of Inaba – or what used to have been the main shopping street before the Junes chain had opened a location in town a year ago. The pressure this new multi-story shopping center had put on the locally owned stores was obvious even to the untrained eye. Most stores never opened their shutters any longer and signs announcing the permanent closure hung on store fronts all throughout the shopping district. Just down the street was a lot where construction had started some months prior, but now the site was derelict. Maybe her thoughts on the economic factors were to be taken into more serious consideration. If nothing else, these two murders had brought Inaba into the national news, if only for a few days.

Turning her head to the left, she could see the southern side of the small district. Many considered that the 'entrance' to the shopping district. Of course, most residents possibly only stopped on that end first, as the gas station was at the far south side. The district also had a less crass appearance in that direction, possibly because fewer stores had yet been shut down on that side of the district.

Still, a couple of closed-down stores. On the other hand we had the sundries of Shiroku, which doubled as a convenience store that also sold traditional medicine, seemed to do surprisingly well. Marukyu, a long-established tofu shop, which had decent tofu and very nice pre-made convenience foods based on the same. The impressive metalwork storefront of the artist simply known as 'Daidara' to the residents of Inaba. At the far south end, there was the local book store (which had an excellent Manga selection) and finally the Moel gas station. The bus stop right around the corner from it was one of the main focal points of Inaba. Students as well as the local workforce flocked down this street every morning and returned each afternoon.

Looking straight ahead she noticed two shoppers standing in front of the local bulletin board, right next to the Chinese diner Aiya and the strangely named Souzai Daigaku. "University of Side-dishes", she muttered and shook her head.

Up the street to the right, north if she were looking at the map, were the closed shutters of the Marutake Hobby shop. Opposite that, the overgrown gardens of the Tatsuhime Shrine. She read the other day that the hoodlums had been found a year after the initial incident, back then a group of middle-schoolers. As part of the sentence the magistrate gave was an order to take care of the trees planted on the grounds.

She had visited the shrine after reading that. If the work of the young vandals had helped or not was not to be seen. Weeds still sprouted up the stairs to the shrine grounds and amongst the stone paths.

Naoto stopped mid-sip as her eyes wandered further up the street. Someone just left the textiles shop. By the bright colours of the clothing the patron was wearing, it was a member of the inn, dressed in a kimono. She shifted her gaze away by tilting her head back and drinking from her can.

As the woman walked further up the street, Naoto pushed back her left sleeve to check the time, using the can in her other hand. Quarter to eleven. Pushing a few buttons on her watch, she upped the customer counter by one. The streets were busier than yesterday.

No sight of Kanji Tatsumi so far. An older woman had seen out a few customers earlier. By her looks, she was a relative of the youth, and by the helpful description of Marukyu-san she was actually his mother.

"Out for a breather, son?"

Thanking years of self-control, Naoto managed not to jump. While she had been keeping an eye on the main street, she had omitted to pay attention to the street behind her. This intersection was branching from the shopping district into the residential area.

"Shirogane." She replied placidly, her voice practiced and low. As manly as a teenager would get it, anyhow. "And I was actually out gathering information on the shopping district, Dojima-san" she replied, smoothly pushing herself off the wall, straightening up, and turning around. "Ah, Adachi-san." She offered a tip of her cap to both of them.

The older man tried to light up a cigarette, staring into his cupped hands. He didn't actually look at her. The younger detective at his side had one hand stuffed in his pocket, the other scratching his neck before returning her greeting with a nod. "You don't say, heh. … So, uh, what do you hope to find here then?"

"At this time, I am not fully convinced that we may be looking from the wrong angle at this case. There is still the possibility that the first murder and second murder are simply connected by a not-yet considered element."

Dojima frowned at his lighter as it produced only sparks and gave it a few vicious shakes. "You mentioned." He muttered, balancing his cigarette between his lips. "Your idea that there isn't actually a serial killer, but someone who reacted on some kind of impulse instead."

Adachi looked back and forth between his colleague and Naoto. "Really? So not someone with an agenda at all?"

"That is your interpretation, Adachi-san. My take is that there is a motive, but we are not looking in the correct locale to find it. A problem I seek to rectify by observing the socio-economical interconnectedness here in Inaba."

Sucking hard on his cigarette to get the embers settled, Dojima-san shrugged. "Well, we'll leave you to that then, Shirogane. We're off to the inn right now, I wanted to follow up on something there. I'll let you know if I shine some new light on anything, sounds good?"

"I value your cooperativeness, Dojima-san, Adachi-san." She gave them another nod and turned back to her observation. The conversation the two detectives had was tuned out by following her own train of thoughts.

It would have been preferable to join them at the Inn, but she had not yet fully prepared her new line of questioning. Without that, she could waste either an opportunity to speak to the staff or ask the wrong questions. And going back with new, different questions could be seen as back-paddling by Dojima-san and the local police. Seeing how they treated her already, she needed to avoid such slip-ups.

Business at the liquor store was slow, as it had been. In the last four days that she had taken time to observe the district, Naoto saw few patrons and the shop closed early every day. That the family just had suffered a tragic loss possibly played into the early closing times, too.

The same kimono-clad woman just bowed her way out and turned to continue walking up north.

Checking for any traffic, Naoto crossed the street and dropped her empty Mad Bull into a trash can. She pulled up her collar with both hands, tucked her cap down and slowly meandered north. On height with the textile shop, she glanced across the street to her right. The door now stood open and a young man, bleached blonde, was sweeping out the entrance of the store. That must be Kanji Tatsumi.

Pretending to pull out a map and reading it, Naoto turned sideways, as if it look for a street sign. Lifting her map, she peered through a gap between map and the brim of her cap. The youth had carefully swept the store and now continued on outside. He seemed quite absorbed in his task, enough so that he gave a start and turned to look inside the store when Naoto head a woman call softly "Kanji?"

He turned sharply and shouted into the store. "Ma! Damnit, don' scare me like that! Whaddya want?" The broom was leaned against the outside wall and he stalked back inside.

Naoto turned back to the road and continued walking. Noisy character, that Tatsumi. He actually bellowed loud enough to be heard at least up to the end of the street. She glanced at her watch once more. Just past 11. If it can be assumed that he sleeps in and then helps out at the store, this time would be good to try and arrange a meeting. She had also noticed him out in the afternoons a few times yesterday. So, her bracket of time seemed to lie between eleven in the morning and four in the afternoon. Provided she wanted to avoid too many eyes on her interview, the time between three and four seemed most advantageous, as less people were in the streets.

She glanced over her shoulder briefly, seeing the young man argue loudly about something she had missed. Worth noting was his build. She would need to make sure to carry some additional defenses when talking to him alone.

However, first she would want to talk to the mother. She had briefly seen the woman a few times. Dressed in traditional kimono with a short sash that she could tie herself. It was both a classic look and comfortable; as well as easily accessible in case she needed to get dressed in the kimono on her own.

Naoto stopped beside the liquor store and once more  _checked her map_ , this time while peering into the darkened interior of the store.

So far she had not yet made any contact with any member of the Konishi family. While she did want to ensure all questions had been asked, she also wanted to make sure to only bother the grieving family members once she knew exactly what to ask. This would need to be one visit only. Each continued disturbance of their peace would quite likely lead to hostility. And that would undoubtedly compromise the information she was hoping to gather.

Turning away, Naoto looked back south towards the bend in the road. She folded up the map as Kanji Tatsumi returned outside, looking actually  _armed_  with his broom this time and continued to sweep. His motions now were rough and it was likely that he rose more dust to settle back down elsewhere, than actually removing any. She tapped the map against her lips a few times as she watched him. Precisely as the police records had indicated. This brief interlude had shown her the quicksilver way in which his temper could change. Caution would be needed when approaching him.

It was time to return to the police station and formulate her plans for tomorrow.

* * *

**May 16th, 2011**

Naoto ducked through the door into Tatsumi Textiles. "Please excuse the intrusion."

Mrs Tatsumi was kneeling in front of some shelves further towards the back of the room and turned in her seated position to bow to the new arrival. "Welcome, welcome to Tatsumi Textiles, please, enter." Another, deeper bow followed.

Her manners switching to full auto-pilot, Naoto returned a more formal bow as well, a small smile on her lips. She enjoyed manners and certain formal behavior. Her immediate impression of Mrs. Tatsumi was if she ever were to consider investing into more formal attire, this would be the place to –

_Ah, but we are on a schedule right now._

"Tatsumi-san?" she asked and waited for the woman's nod. "My name is Naoto Shirogane. I am assisting the local police with the recent unpleasant matters." She wanted to be more direct, but the soft, pleasant atmosphere of the store removed some of her briskness.

"Oh, such an unfortunate situation, yes."

"I was wondering if you would be so good as to assist me with a few questions that arose while I reviewed the matter."

"But of course, dear, anything I can do to help."

Overlooking the 'Dear', the young detective pulled a small note book out and flipped to the page she had marked with a dog-ear. "Thank you, Tatsumi-san. Did you have any dealings with Miss Mayumi Yamano?"

"Ah, yes, the reporter. So tragic what happened to her." She nodded sadly. "Yes, I did."

Naoto stopped dead in her tracks. It had been a throwaway question, something to break the ice. She had not expected this reply. "If I may, what was the nature of your interaction?"

Tatsumi-san smiled, rose and stepped to a display of scarves. She let a red silk scarf run through her hands. "She came in to order a matching set of scarves. Sadly, she changed her mind and only bought the woman's scarf. The man's scarf is now on its own."

"Would you permit me to take a picture of this scarf, Tatsumi-san?"

"But of course." She turned and knelt back down as Naoto flipped open her phone and took a picture of the scarf. It would of course be of horrendous quality, but should enable her to spot its twin, should she find it – or ask others about it.

"Thank you. Returning to my questions…"

"Yes?"

"What do you know of the Konishi Family?"

"Very little, I'm afraid. I do not drink and our families were never that close. I believe my son is friends… or, well, at least used to be friends with the Konishi's son." She sighed sadly. "I do not know what I would do, if I had to watch my child being taken to an early grave. If I knew them better, I would offer them my support, but..."

"I see." So she would not find out more from this angle. Perhaps another approach could work then. Kanji was friends with the Konishis, or at least with their children. _So these questions will need to wait for now._  Naoto obscured her disappointment with a smile for the store in general. "You seems to have a lively trade. Your selection of patterns is formidable."

"Thank you, I do my best to only carry quality. One of my best customers is the Amagi Inn. It's a house of tradition and they provide the same quality for their guests as for themselves."

"So a lot of orders come from the Inn?"

"I'd say they are my biggest customer, yes. Not only do we clothe their staff, we also provide the yukata, towels and some wall scrolls." Tatsumi-san smiles proudly. "Many of their customers come to us to order formal wear after staying at the inn."

"That sounds like a lot of work for one person." Naoto looked about, pretending to look for any helpers. "You run the store on your own?"

"Since my husband's death some years ago, yes."

"Oh, I am sorry…"  _That could have been avoided._ She had not seen any mention of a death.

"Don't be, dear. I am not alone. My son, Kanji, helps me out. Whenever I need a pair of strong arms – or longer ones – he is there to help his old mother out."

"Kanji. Does he work as a regular employee then? What I mean is, does he keep regular hours?"

"No. He helps out as his time permits. He is a student still and too young to fully take on the store on his own. He does have a talent, but, well, he needs to learn"

"I see. Do you know where I could find him?"

"Hm. He left about an hour ago on an errant for me. He should be back soon, if you'd like to wait here?"

Before Naoto could form the words that went along with the shaking of her head, the door slid open behind her. Waiting at the shop when other customers were here as well would be disadvantageous.

A gentle voice politely greeted Tatsumi-san. "Hello."

The shop owner turned her head and broke into a bright smile. "Ah, Yuki-chan. It's so nice to see you."

Yuki-chan. So someone familiar to Mrs. Tatsumi had entered. Removing herself at this point seemed possible – and prudent. She did not wish to involve anyone into her affairs if she did not need to. This way she could preserve as much information as she could and had control over the contamination of her gathered data.

"Well then, if you would excuse me, Tasumi-san."

"I'm sorry that I could not help more."

"It's all right; you've given me plenty to think about. Thank you." She gave the woman another small bow and turned around.

And started.

She had expected to see one person standing behind her, but she found the small store being packed now. Two young women and two young men in the clothing of the local high school stood behind her. Leaving swiftly was the way to go now. She gave them a polite nod and left the store, closing the door behind her.

Putting her note book back into the inside pocket of her coat, she looked back towards the intersection. Where she saw the tall young blonde man on height with the closed hobby store, walking up from the south side of the street. The deserted, empty street.  _Perfect_.

Checking for traffic quickly, she marched right across and approached the younger Tatsumi. Shrugging his shoulders as he walked, she realized he was actually wearing his school uniform. Well. Wore. The jacket was open and draped over his shoulders and instead of the white shirt the code permitted, he was wearing a black shirt with a skull motive.

Her right hand slid into her coat pocket, her fingers slowly closing around a small canister. She had come prepared in light of the fast way in which his mood could swing. She did not want to explain pulling a gun on any civilian, not even on one with a police file the size of a slim novel. But she greatly disliked tear gas. Even if used correctly, a gust of wind could turn the defensive weapon against the user and if used incorrectly, chemical burns could severely injure any involved party.

If she needed it, she would use it. It was a far better solution than any shot could ever be with her gun.

"Tatsumi-san, I presume?"

"Er.. yeah?" He stopped, looking at her wearily first, then taking her in. She noticed how his right foot slowly shifted back, his shoulders slumped down. He was getting ready to either swing out or bolt. He was possibly assessing the young man who just marched right up to him. But he wasn't running or yelling. So far, so good.

"I just returned from your mother's store. I had inquired after you."

No reaction.

"I'm interested in you."

The young man looked confused now. His slightly defensive stance, one foot back, shifted to a more open, relaxed posture. Pulling one foot forward; his hunched shoulders relaxed.  _Good_. She released her grip and pulled her hand from her pocket.

"Uh… what?" The confusion in his eyes had grown into a perplexed frown. It seemed he had not understood her at first. Maybe she needed to restart this, be clearer.

Naoto tipped her cap up and lifted her chin to look at him properly. "I am interested in you. There are things we should discuss."

Perplexity gave way to alarm. His eyes, which had been seizing her up so far, suddenly widened a bit. "Th-things-?" His eyes briefly darted around them, before being glued back to hers.

Considering the recent history this young man had with the police, this was not surprising. While Naoto did not have a TV in her apartment, she had read the police report that apparently had made the local news only three days ago. She needed to talk to him elsewhere, at a more secluded, quieter place. "Are you free to meet tomorrow afternoon?"

Still in his seeming state of shock, he nodded, without saying a word.

A small part of her would later find it a bit disingenuous, but she saw an opening to enhance his coming interview and took it. "Then I'll meet you at the gates after school tomorrow."

"S-sure. Sounds great."

 _Do not let him think about it now._  She turned and brusquely moved up the street, north, towards the end of the shopping district. This would mean she had to take a detour to return to the police station, but she wanted to be absolutely certain that he would not have a chance to change his mind now. He was vitally important to her progress and she'd not lose this chance.

When she had reached the curve of the road just past the liquor store, she suddenly heard him bellow from behind.

" _What the hell are you pricks lookin' at?_ "

Risking a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw him storm across the street, fists clenched, shouting at someone she could not see.  _Please do not get yourself arrested. At least not until tomorrow evening._


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The case proceeds too slow for the linking of Naoto Shirogane.  
> Another stake-out; another day of quiet observation. However, she gets to meet up with that young delinquent her own investigations have brought forward. Maybe he can help shine a new light onto her collected data.

**May 17th, 2011**

Leaning against a telephone pole just outside the shrine in the central shopping district, Naoto browsed her note book. She would possibly do so several more times, burning the prepared list of questions into her mind. Opening any kind of note book needed to be avoided in front of Tatsumi, as chances were that he might bolt if he felt she was working with the police on anything directly involving him.

Her preparation for today had actually started last night, when she had gone to bed early.

She wanted to make sure her day would not be fruitless, which involved her keeping an eye on Tatsumi Textiles in the early morning; observing Kanji Tatsumi leaving the house, and seeing him head towards the flood plains – a popular path to school which students of Yasogami High took.

Satisfied that he would be there at the desired rendezvous time, she had then returned to the shopping district, collecting her morning data on the shops. It was very much in line with all previous days. Business at Shiroku consisted of workers stopping by for a pick-me-up in the mornings and students grabbing a snack in the afternoon. Patrons left the book store with newspapers; drivers refueled at the gas station. The south end of the road was healthy as it had been. The northern side, well. As the previous days, it was not as busy by far.

Her watch vibrated gently on her wrist. Pushing her arm forward to pull the sleeve back, she glanced at it to confirm the alarm. Three in the afternoon. Time to go.

She had decided on the path she would walk to the school last night. Starting from where she could have an eye on the textiles shop, she would take the route to school Kanji Tatsumi had taken in the morning. If he had changed his mind, left early or skipped school, she would know at once.

The day was overcast and gray, few people were walking the streets. The flood plains of the Samagawa were nearly empty. No surprise there, the weather forecast had spoken of an 80% chance of rain towards the evening. As the sky only grew darker with thick clouds, she started to wonder if not bringing an umbrella had been a miscalculation.

Now and again Inaba surprised her. Walking with her measured, long strides, she caught herself twice slowing down, looking out over the river. The water quality was apparently outstanding, with many species of fish being able to thrive. She had seen an older man cast out when walking home in the evening about a week ago. It was… She disliked such words, but it was idyllic. There was a certain ideal of the classic rural Japanese countryside coming to life here in Inaba. Clean air, clean water. Rice fields and a traditional inn.

And even a place like this could be the refuge of a murderer or even serial killer.

Running her questions back through her head, she picked up the pace again, following the hill up to the local high school.

As she approached the gates, she noticed that a lot of students lingered around the gates, chatting with friends, comparing notes, playing around on their phones. Talking here was fully out of the question.

She also saw the tall frame of Kanji Tatsumi walking up to the entrance. If she had to pick, she would have pegged his expression as slightly lost and uncomfortable. Allowing him to rethink the situation needed to be prevented. She had to press forward and keep the situation's momentum.

Walking up straight towards him, she saw his expression grow more anxious as he noticed her. "I didn't keep you waiting, I hope?" she said as soon as she reached him. He was tall already, and she was standing on a slope.  _Wonderful_. Pulling herself up and opening her shoulders a bit, she tipped her chin up to look straight at him.

"No, I-I just got here, too…" Distressed. Anxious. He was probably afraid of being overhead.

She gave a quick nod, turned, and walked away from the entrance to the school. Naoto swallowed the relieved sigh as she heard steps following her almost at once. He did not want to stand at the gates. She would simply choose a more secluded spot near the floodplain for the interview. As carefully as her partner in this activity demanded, of course.

* * *

They were being tailed.

Stopping once to retie her boots, she glanced back around her arm and saw two teens watching them from a little ways away. Possibly just curious, because she was an unknown face talking to an extremely well known face. Well, that could not be helped now. They were too far away to interfere with her questions.

Walking side-by-side in silence for a while, Naoto slipped her hand into her coat pocket again, feeling the coldness of the small gas canister against her palm. He seemed calm enough right now, so maybe she was simply overly cautious. Maybe there was a pattern to his aggression that the police had failed to identify. What she had learned yesterday may have simply been his reaction to being genuinely startled. Many people reacted with aggression to that.

She turned her head, looking up at the youth.  _He is way too tall_.

She caught him glancing at her worriedly, and snapping his head back when she gazed at him. She would not fathom how someone who could easily physically overpower her could be so nervous around her. She needed to make sure to project her intentions clearly in her bearing. Soothing. Calm. Everything in her posture should say: I am not going to be a threat, Tatsumi-san.  _Well, let's start off easy_.

"Has anything unusual happened lately?" she asked.

He gave a dismissive grunt. Or was it affirmative? She stopped to look at him. A commanding presence might make him more talkative, so she made sure her eyes caught his and held him.

Or… thinking about his mother, he may simply be used to more manners than she had so far displayed. And then it hit her – she had not yet even introduced herself! No wonder the youth was cautious.

"I apologize, I haven't yet introduced myself." She pulled the hand from her pocket and held it out towards him. "Naoto Shirogane."

Her offered hand was taken limply and held more than actually shaken. "Uh - Kanji. T-Tatsumi. Kanji Tatsumi."

"I know." She said, releasing his hand and placing hers on her hip. "After all, I came to see you."

"To - to see me? Whoa, I-I'm not like that, okay? N-nothing like it!"

Nothing like… what? Had he figured her out already? Did he realize she was addressing him due to his police records? Maybe his mother had spoken of her to him and now he was worried…. Or… Ah. Yes. The TV report. It must have been very unfavorable for him. It most certainly weighed on his mind still. But in all of his protesting, he did not appear threatening. If anything, he appeared threatened. Curious.

"Wh-what? What're you looking at?" he snapped.

And there was his quicksilver temper right back on the forefront. Reading him was not as easy as she had first assumed. Either he was easily flustered, scared quickly… or was a master at acting. "You are an odd person, Kanji Tatsumi."

He shuffled his feet. He  _actually_  shuffled his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. With a shrug he then mumbled. "Wh-whatever. Just makin' sure, yeah?"

If this was the worst she had to expect of his temper, all her previous precautions were overbearing. He came across as actually kind of sensitive. Another new fact to keep in mind when dealing with him.

"Now, as I was asking before, Tatsumi-san" she began, walking in her long, measured stride again, "was there anything odd?" Taking control. Directing the conversation. And in all of this, she had to keep in mind to not seem threatening to him. _Hah_.

A grumble was his only response.

"What I mean is, have you, with the recent events in this town, had any especially negative or outstandingly positive encounters?"

He shrugged.

"No one approached you, no one demanded any services of you or any of your friends, perhaps?"

"Huh. Friends."

She peered at him from under her cap.

"Maybe the events earlier in the week-"

He shook his head and interjected. "Th-they were jus' botherin' ma. Had to…"

"Who disturbed your mother?"

"Th'bikers." Always a mumble. But he was on the wrong track as it is.

She needed to pull back and re-assess her approach.

"Tatsumi-san, I have no interest in the bikers. As I had said initially, my interest lies in you."

She flung her arm out towards him as she caught from the corner of her eye that he stumbled. Catching himself, ignoring her outstretched arm, he shot her another one of the startled glances and flushed. Too direct, perhaps. She needed to open him up somehow, but so far her approach to put him at his ease seemed to not work.

"Are you all right?"

An affirmative grunt.

This conversation became quite one-sided. Possibly trying to pry information from him at their first encounter had been too lofty a goal. Perhaps starting the interview with the goal of gathering information could already be called a failure. Establishing a more mutual bond, in a manner she would with a fellow investigator, could perhaps prove more fruitful.

Changing her stride into a slower walk, clasping her hands behind her back, Naoto changed the direction of the conversation. "How have you been in the last two weeks?"

* * *

When they reached the train station, she decided to allow him more space and terminate the current exchange. It had not been very informative, as he seemed distracted and had little, if anything, to contribute to their conversation. However, his stance had changed. The shoulders came down, his glances at her were less fearful and more curious now.

It has not been a waste of time however, as she had brought forth some bits of information. Yes, he was friends with the Konishi's son. No, they had not spoken in quite some time. Well, yes, they had, but not really ( _whatever that had meant_ ). Yes, he knew the daughter of the Amagi's and that had actually been the Yukiko-girl. No, he had not heard any rumors at school because he 'din' listen to that crap', as he so eloquently had put it.

This was an adequate place to halt their meeting for today. She would sort the information she had discovered thanks to this talk and she might re-schedule for another meeting at a later point. Though she should ensure next time that the teen had some time to actually gather information in the school and possibly with his friends. Most of his answers were not too informative.

"Thank you for your time, Kanji Tatsumi," she said, tipped her cap and turned about to head back to her apartment.

"H-hey! Wait!" Tatsumi called out behind her.

She stopped and turned about, her hand sneaking into her pocket. A change in his behavior. From non-verbal or short-phrased communication to actually initiating contact. Had he remembered something about one of her earlier questions?

"Uh...c-can I-" he stopped and seemed to grumble something to himself. "I-I wanna see you again, okay?" His hands flexed into fists for a moment, then relaxed at once. He flushed and stared at her, almost as if he wanted to put forth a challenge.

This was a fortunate change indeed. If their chat had managed to turn from feeling frightened into being open to the idea of conversation with her, then she might have managed to gain the access she had set out to gain to begin with. Having Kanji Tatsumi as a source, she could also possibly gain access to Yukiko Amagi.

She eyed Kanji as she considered her options. Exchanging numbers did not seem to be the next correct move.. And addresses needed to be absolutely avoided. He could still become a suspect, and relinquishing access to her private data was out of the question. She also did not want the teen to feel like this was the beginning of any sort of actual friendship, as she had a purely professional interest in him, after all.

He seemed to slowly grow anxious at the wait. Not knowing the correct reply just yet, all Naoto decided to simply give a tight nod and close out this conversation by leaving.

"Uh - that - that's great!" He said out loud behind her. He raised his voice. "S'great! I-I'll see you, yeah?"

A strange character. But he seemed absolutely the person she had hoped to find. She just hoped his social awkwardness didn't mean that he struggled to actually communicate as badly as todays' meeting had implied. Or that he was unable to form meaningful connections with others – though according to himself and his mother he had formed friendships with the people she wanted access to.

She would check in by the store tomorrow, when she had decided on her next steps.

* * *

**May 21st, 2011**

NEED ADVICE CALL WHEN POSSIBLE

Sitting on the corner of her bed, Naoto looked at the phone in her hands. She ended up sending the text to her grampa after all. Every fiber of her being resented asking for help… but then, he was the elder Shirogane. He would possibly be able to assist her in finding what she had overlooked so far; spot the moment that it had gone wrong.

Had it been the day that Kanji Tatsumi had vanished? She could still kick herself for that mistake!

Being so certain, so sure that she had managed to hook Tatsumi as a new source of information, she had decided he did not need observation. She had gone to the station the following morning, prepared a new line of inquiry, researched some things online and sorted through the data she had noted down last night before bed.

When she stopped by the textiles store in the early evening to arrange a new meeting with Kanji Tatsumi, his mother informed her that he had been gone all night. So at some point after talking to her, he had disappeared somewhere. The place they had parted ways (WHY had she not tracked his movements after this?) had been a little ways away from his typical way home. Had a gang fight taken place? Had he injured himself?

She had spent the night at the station after this, pouring over reports of accidents, missing persons, suspicious activities – nothing. Nothing at all had come to light. Checking with the local hospitals had also not brought forth any trail of Kanji Tatsumi. He had just vanished.

Without him, she had been stuck. No progress at all had been made in the last five days now.

On top of that she had received another case file to review in the mail this morning and she had been asked for her input. Work now officially started to pile up and she needed some direction. This was a new situation to her, something she had not yet dealt with before.

She gave a small jump when her phone suddenly buzzed, then started to ring. She saw the caller ID and smiled as she opened her phone. "Grampa. Thank you for calling." She got up from her bed and walked into her living room.

"You know I will always make time for you, my dear. What can I help you with?" 

Naoto ignored her sofa and sat down with her back to the wall. "The Inaba case. I have hit an impasse. I had a source located, but he vanished and I have been unable to locate him. I have spent weeks here now and my one break seems out of reach. On top of that, it seems you have sent me another new case..."

She heard him lean back into a leather chair – possibly in his study – as she spoke. She had his full attention and she could only hope he did not think poorly of her for not being able to address the case fully yet.

"I see. Naoto, sometimes a case cannot be solved as swiftly as many of the other ones we have addressed together or the ones I gave you to work on separately. Consider all a murderer could stand to lose. If they are stupid, catching them is a matter of weeks. But the Inaba case offers very little to go by. You may need to let the case rest-"

"Grampa, no! I cannot pos-"

"My dear, let me finish, please." There was only warm affection in his voice.

Naoto shook her head, knowing he would not be able to see it. "I apologize. I should not have interrupted you."

"That's all right. Naoto, listen. Sometimes you need to let a case rest for a few weeks or even months to ensure you can re-approach your clues with fresh eyes. I actually had send you this new case to review to let you do just that."

"I see. So you suggest that I change tracks for a while then?"

"Exactly. Work a few other cases. Keep your notes and everything else you have assembled, check in on your source now and again, but refocus your energies on something new. I am not asking you to abandon your work. But I am asking you to make sure you do not become frustrated. I realize this is something new for you, but it is vital for you to learn, if you wish to be an investigator. Every investigation can hit such points. Sometimes you need to delay the solution in order to gain new information, a new perspective, or simply allow yourself more time to find the idea you are trying to find too hard right that moment."

"I am not sure letting go of this case will be that easy." She pulled off her cap and leaned her head back, staring at the ceiling. "After all, this should not have been a difficult case at all. And… I already feel frustrated, Grampa."

He chuckled softly. "All the more reason to take a break now. Let me know what you make of the new case I send and I will call you in a few days. I have quite a bit of work I could use your help with."

"Do you want me to return to the estate then?"

"Not at all. I think living on your own for a while will do you good. You have everything you need, dear?"

"Yes, Grampa."

"Good. I love you. I will talk to you soon."

"Love you, Grampa. Thank you."


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With most of the police force seemingly uninterested in new leads, the Junior Detective turns her attention to new sources of information, however, it is then the case may find a break - in the discovery of a third victim.  
> While adding new pieces to her puzzle, a worrying assumption enters her mind. Are the teens she attempted to tap for information actually more directly involved in all of this?

**July 9** **th** **, 2011**

A robed Naoto stepped out of the shower, toweling off her hair. In her mind, she was assembling a small shopping list. Mundane as that activity was, running out of shampoo without having a replacement would be an inconvenience she could easily avoid. Besides, she should really replace the bottles of orange juice and green tea, which had gone untouched for the last two weeks and were certain to have spoiled by now. Possibly restocking on some other food options would be a good idea as well.

Yawning, Naoto stepped in front of the sink and stretched out. Slowly she rubbed the fog from the mirror with a corner of her towel. When she could see her reflection, she stopped, slowly pulling her hand back.

The girl she saw in the mirror looked a lot like a copy of the young couple whose picture was in her grandfather's study. Around her cheek bones, the tilt of her eyes, and the curve of her pale lips she very much was her mother. On the other hand, there was her strong jawline, the stark blue-gray of her eyes, and the colour and fall of her hair, which made her the very image of her father's daughter.

Even her grandfather could sometimes be seen in her. When she smiled, however rare that was.

Naoto gave her mirrored self a slow, apprising look. She carried not only the Shirogane name, she realized. She carried their mannerisms and even their looks. Yet there was no denying that she had left childhood behind. Her face had grown more angular, more defined. When had that transpired? Was it actually a sudden occurrence, or a process so slow and gradual that she simply had never taken notice and it just seemed sudden?

She sighed, turned, dropped her towel into the laundry basket, and re-fastened her robe. Foolish, unproductive thinking. Even if she looked less like a child, the actual worry was about looking too feminine, which would come after leaving childhood. Something that her morning routine now tried to battle each and every day.

By the time she stepped out of the bathroom, finished binding her chest, gotten dressed, combed her hair and finished that mental shopping list, she had become another person. A public version of the youngest member of the Shirogane legacy. Leaving her apartment, buttoning up her jacket, she cast one last glance in her bathroom mirror. Pulling on her cap, she transformed ever so slightly from her parent's daughter into Naoto Shirogane, the boy detective.

* * *

The rest of the day felt very slow, in the dreary, quiet way that comes with two days of non-stop rain.

After shopping at Junes, dropping off her groceries at home, and stopping by the Inaba police station to check up on any progress made by Adachi and Dojima (none, as expected), she decided to walk back to her apartment in the afternoon rain. The quiet that came with this kind of weather, combined with the deep earthen scent of petrichor, reminded her of afternoons spent alone in the garden of the estate. It was a familiar and comforting backdrop which allowed her to let her mind run freely.

The town looked bathed in monochrome. Thick clouds overhead prevented any colour from standing out, the only exceptions being the bright and seemingly out-of-place glare of the neon signs outside of some storefronts. Everything else kept a low profile today, turning the surroundings dark and chilly. She was actually wearing her spring coat again, even though it was early summer. Naoto saw no birds, no stray cats and hardly anyone else walking outside. It was like having her own little space, the white noise of rain patterning down on her umbrella sealing her away from the outside world.

On a whim she turned into the north end of the shopping district. This rain was growing to be so dense that even the street lights were diffused and weakened. The brightest light here came from the two soda vending machines outside of the Konishi's liquor store. Naoto stopped by the machines, pulled a Natural from the one of them and was about to turn away, when the machine played a small jingle. She turned to look at it and read "You've won a prize!". She shrugged, selected a second Natural and pocketed it.

As she turned back to continue southward; she saw a slice of bright yellow light reach into the street as the door at Tatsumi Textiles opened, and Kanji Tatsumi stepped out. He swept a small puff of dust into the still, mildly cold afternoon air. The swooshing his broom made seemed oddly muffled by the rain drumming on her umbrella, while being whispered back as an echo from the houses on the opposite side of the street.

Where had he been? How long had he been back now? More pressing: How could she possibly have spent several weeks now not thinking about him? He was a key point to her Inaba investigation, yet she had lost several weeks by not trying to follow up sooner. She had allowed Grampa to distract her with other cases, to the point where her own investigation had suffered. Sudden annoyance swelled up in her. Here she was, wasting time with a  _stroll_  when she should run an investigation!

On impulse, she surged forward, wanting to pick up her trail right away. She crossed the street, her steps silenced by the steady patter of the rain. The younger Tatsumi had just turned, not seeing her, and re-entered the store. The door was pulled shut and the light that fell on the sidewalk from inside was cut off. Naoto slowed her steps just at the corner of the closed barber shop beside the Tatsumi's store.

No. She was rushing things. She had no plan on what to do next. The last she had done was gently probe for some information and she had barely managed to coax the young man out of his shell. If she were to just bulldoze right in, she might ruin her carefully laid groundwork. He seemed to spook easily and barging right in, possibly even putting him on the spot before his mother needed to be avoided.

As she still hesitated on what to do next, the door slid open again and Naoto shrank back behind the building. She heard Kanji Tatsumi say awkward farewells to two girls – one of them being the black-haired Amagi. Holding back her umbrella slightly, Naoto peered at them. Tatsumi was unable to keep eye contact with them, his gaze going right past both girls, his body slightly twisted away from them; but their conversation seemed friendly and warm. Reading the body language alone, the detective concluded the girls being close friends; their stance towards Kanji was one of familiarity.

What surprised her then was seeing none other than Rise Kujikawa skip out of the store, flinging her arms around the younger Tatsumi in a hug; then giving him a playful push as he went rigid as a board in response to her embrace. She could not hear what they were saying, but she did catch the three girls bursting into laughter together, which was repaid by him with a glower.

One of them, a short-haired girl, happily called out "Well, see you tomorrow, Kanji-kun!" before opening her umbrella and walking off with the other girls. The door was slid shut again and the street turned quiet as their steps started to be swallowed in the rain.

Crossing back from the other side, Naoto kept heading south, following them at a distance. This had been a most fortuitous moment for her. Being able to observe this brief encounter, she could start to formulate a new approach in her investigation. She should very carefully plan the next couple of days. Meet up with Tatsumi again. Hunt for new leads. Make sure she picked the case back up, now that she had taken her break.

If he had managed to make new friends at school, the change in his behavior was dramatic from a few weeks ago. He still didn't seem to be very talkative, but the way the four had just interacted promised a certain familiarity. In any case, his integration into the social networks of his peers would also provide her with more insight.

Something tried to grab her attention. A thought so thin that the moment she tried to grasp it, it turned into mist. She tried to reach for it a few times, then simply let it slip away and devised her new approach.

* * *

She had spent the evening revising her old notes on the murder cases here in Inaba. Sipping from a glass of fresh orange juice Naoto flicked through the copies of the files from the first murder.

She copied out the questions she still wanted to ask Kanji Tatsumi, adding new questions to the list, crossing out questions that were answered, or questions which seemed no longer as pressing. This included a number of new softball questions. His take on Rise "Risette" Kujikawa, for example. She had seen her mentioned in several yellow press magazines as she was shopping and found that the idol, apparently quite popular with her peers, was moving here permanently. She seemed to have taken some time to get settled in. After hearing a lot of chatter about her, she suddenly seemed to have vanished for a short while.

And then tonight, she saw her with two of the students who also had visited Tatsumi-san's store in May. Seemingly friendly with Kanji Tatsumi; possibly even involved with him.

As she flicked through her notes from her interview with the teenager, she found his dismissive reaction to the suggestion he might have friends. Clearly that either had changed or was changing right now. Or, of course, he had lied. He was very jumpy and nervous about her conversation with him back in May. But… No. That explanation imply seemed too unlikely. He did not show any deceitful behavior during their interactions so far.

Naoto also had dug out the map she had started to assemble at the police station and pinned it to the wall in her living room. She had pushed her table just underneath, placing her copied files and assorted notes on it. Having everything in reach, in case she needed to quickly check up on a factoid, falsehood or to confirm an actual piece of information.

She set her glass down and kept writing into her note book. Everything came back to her readily as she reviewed her notes. The need to tap the Amagi and Konishi families for information. Her hopes that Kanji Tatsumi had started to re-integrate himself at school. If she was lucky, he may have started picking up rumors that she could use to continue to fact-check on the case.

The surge of annoyance she had felt in the late afternoon had since settled. She realized that her distraction from the case had in fact helped her. She had thrown away many false leads she had dreamed up in her urge to find a solution and felt her head was so much clearer now. Ultimately, her goal was not to just solve the case. Her goal needed to be find the  _right_  solution. And that would not happen if she simply chased for an answer without any respect for the actual mystery.

Something else had emerged as she reviewed this case with fresh eyes. A rumor she had flat-out dismissed had taken a shape. A shape she was slightly worried about.

The Midnight Channel.

Kanji Tatsumi had apparently been seen by some teens on something they called the "Midnight Channel" – a rumor she was told by an attendant at the local Moel gas station weeks ago. This had happened only a few days after his unexplained disappearance.

She had also heard that Rise Kujikawa had been seen on that channel. She no longer recalled how she heard about this, but she did hear of it and she remembered faintly to also immediately dismiss it as a prank. Who ever heard of turned-off TVs showing a late night show? She rejected the very idea of it as ludicrous, and simply being the sort of urban legend that gets passed around by bored teenagers with too much time on their hands.

Had she been wrong in that thought? How could something so absurd be the truth – or connected to her cases? Or was there another, separate issue going on entirely?

Even if one discounted the midnight channel however – each of the victims  _had_  previously been on TV. NightLine had also reported about Tatsumi and Kujikawa. If the assumption could be made that the 'Midnight Channel' was someone falling asleep in front of the TV; if their subconscious combined the rumors of a person with what was shown on that broadcast, perhaps we're actually getting to the truth of the matter? And yet. Not everyone in NightLine had ended up murdered. That alone, combined with the Midnight Channel resulted in… nothing. Nothing at all.

Another consequence however could be that publicity on TV drew the murderers attention. If we require this as the signal for the murderer to become engaged and single out a target, that would mean, based purely on NightLine that both Kanji Tatsumi and Rise Kujikawa would still be in danger. Maybe only Kujikawa, Tatsumi seemed capable of fending off attackers, seeing his history of violence. Observing Kujikawa closely should be considered none the less. She would talk to Dojima in the morning regarding this theory.

By the time she caught herself staring at the map without seeing it and realized she should go to sleep, it was past two in the morning.

* * *

**June 10** **th** **, 2011**

Naoto sleepily reached for her mobile phone in the dim light of early morning. She had tried to ignore the first rings, hoping whoever it was would simply leave a message. She had been up late and getting up just past sunrise was not a part of that plan.

She flipped open the phone and hummed sleepily "Shirogane?" while pulling her blanket back over her shoulders.

"Up and at 'em, wonder boy."

"Dojima-san? What time is it?"

"My watch reads six twenty-two. I'll be at your apartment in… about fifteen minutes, so get your ass into gear." Before she could reply with a very groggy complaint, he rushed on. "We have another victim. I simply  _assumed_  you'd be interested in being there when I reach the scene…"

Jumping out of bed and already in her bathroom by the time he finished, she quipped "I'll be ready" and snapped her phone shut.

* * *

As irritable as Dojima-San could come across at times; when he was working, Naoto deeply respected his distanced, calm presence. She felt like a fully valued member of his team as she took notes, reviewed the injuries the victim had taken, and assisted in recovering evidence.

The weather played to their advantage. The ground had been like a sponge after two days of rain and finding the foot prints of the assailant who placed out the body was simply a matter of looking at the ground. No one could have missed these deeply sunken prints in the earth. Well. Maybe aside from Adachi-san. The mud from the terrain tracked up the water tower to where the victim had been hung dangling upside-down over the banister.

The victim was covered in defensive wounds and the attack must have been vicious. The head trauma was considerable and the location of the murder would certainly be found this time around – provided the attack had not happened while it still rained. Even so, the site was rife with traces, evidence and indications of a time line.

The had been here the best part of the morning so far, when Dojima caught her eye and indicated with a nod to pull back from the scene. She left side-by-side with him, Adachi-san trailing behind them.

Naoto stepped back behind the police lines with the other detectives and listened to them compare notes while she removed her thin latex gloves. Pocketing them, she pulled out her own note book and started to flip through the early pages. She wanted to see if anything could already strike her as comparable to the first two murders.

When correlating the first two victims with this one, stark differences came to light immediately. The clearly visible footprints. The deviation in the victim's gender. The severe injuries sustained by the victim. Even the locale was different – not a single house was anywhere near this water tower; no road, either. Only a small footpath lead here from the road, too narrow for a car. Where the first two victims had no physical marks, this victim was found with numerous defensive wounds. Leading up to the water tower, Naoto had pointed out drag marks. None had been noted near the previous two victims. Had they been missed or had the first two been carried? She scribbled down 'Compare weight of victims'.

Watching the coroners taking away the body, she drummed her pen on her note book. Why these differences? What had happened to make the murderer change his MO? Was he rushed? Did he fear someone saw him? Had his preparations gone wrong? What made his appearance any different? And… and why did she feel so confused when looking at him?

He didn't look familiar at all. Somehow that was important. She felt like she should know him, but did not. What did that mean?

"Shirogane?"

 _Wait… wait_! She had not seen this man in the news at all. He had not been spoken of at the station when she visited yesterday; she had not read about him or heard anyone at Junes mention him – and NiteLine generally was mentioned somewhere the day after the broadcast. She flipped back in her book and looked at the name. Morooka, Kinshiro. No, the name meant nothing to her. Nothing at all…

Her theory from last night, that the murderer would be influenced by seeing his or her victims on TV or them having a certain amount of local interest returned to the forefront of her mind. She made another note. 'Confirm recent movements of Morooka'

"Hey, Shirogane?"

She looked up from her notes and turned her attention to Dojima. "Yes, detective?"

"We've been here for four hours now. I'm headed back to the station to start the paperwork. The rest will be wrapped up by the investigations unit. Want a ride back with me?"

"Yes, that would… Actually, Dojima-san, would you agree to take me near the shopping district? I would very much like to check on something."

* * *

Naoto hopped out of the car, thanked Dojima and marched right up to Marukyu tofu. Being a regular here, she had been content with just talking to the elderly owner, but she should try to talk to Rise Kujikawa now. The morning had been too busy to talk to Dojima-san about her theory regarding Kujikawa being in danger, but she wanted to at least lay some groundwork. Her disappearance was, now that she had time to think on it, very much like the sudden vanishing of Kanji Tatsumi.

That was what had bothered her all evening without being able to put the feeling into coherent thought. They seemed to have had a similar experience or occurrence – and now they were on very friendly terms. Not only that, but the same second-year high schoolers that had tried to contact Kanji Tatsumi now seemed involved with her.

And now a teacher from the local school had been found murdered. Without being on TV first. Without having gone missing first. These two trails kept crossing and then separating again. Was she imagining a possible connection of the two? Or was she simply tired? The night had been too late and too short.

Taking the steps up to the store in one long stride, Naoto looked around the shop. "Pardon my intrusion?" From a back room, Marukyu-san walked in, wiping her hands on her apron. "Oh, the dapper young man. Welcome to Marukyu Tofu. How are you?"

Naoto tapped her cap, all her automatic habits kicking in at once. Her voice dropped, her back straightened, her shoulders came forward. "Marukyu-san. It is good to see you, I am well. I was wondering if your granddaughter, Rise Kujikawa, was here at this time."

"Oh, are you another fan of hers? I'm very sorry, dear -"

Naoto held up both hands. "I assure you, my request is not of any frivolous nature. I wish to speak to her regarding an investigation I am assisting the local police with. She is not in any kind of trouble" she hastily added as the older woman raised a shocked hand to her mouth, "but she might be able to help me clarify some matters."

"I see. Oh my, an investigation. Well, she actually isn't in right now. I believe she went to finish up her paperwork at school. She'll be staying here for a longer while, so she is enrolling while staying with me."

"How unfortunate…" Naoto frowned, her thoughts already racing. If Kujikawa started going to school here, she would certainly start becoming 'involved' in whichever was happening here. The coincidences were too convenient to actually point to anything else at this time. Maybe, if she could interject at an earlier stage, she could get a better insight into what was going on. Unless she, like Kanji Tatsumi, was already too deeply embroiled.

"Can I help you in any way perhaps?" Marukyu-san offered.

"No. No, but I thank you for your offer, Ma'm. I might stop by at a later time to see Kujikawa-san. I am very sorry to have bothered you."

"No bother, dearie, you're such a polite young man. Why, I am sure you'll be growing up to be a proper Gentleman even, unlike most kids these days."

Fearing a well-intentioned monologue from the shop owner, and feeling a blush creep up, Naoto tucked down her cap a bit and muttered a quick goodbye.

Leaving the store, she spotted the group of students, minus one Rise Kujikawa, walk up to the tofu store. With this arrival it became clear that information obtained from the starlet had to be considered contaminated. She did not  _mean_  to frown, but her eyebrows drew down and her voice, still balancing on the practiced deeper tones, sounded frosty even to her own ears as the teens stopped in front of her.

"Are you here to ingratiate yourselves with Rise Kujikawa now?"

Naoto's eyes wandered over the group. The Amagi girl. Junes' branch managers' son. The short-haired girl. A very lender blonde boy. And, standing in the back, shoulders hunched down, Kanji Tatsumi. Were all her sources muddled already? Had she waited too long?

The Junes-boy suddenly did a double-take on her and then burst out "Hey! Aren't you that guy we saw with Kanji?"

Turning to catch him in a stare, Naoto simply dipped her head in a tight nod. "Precisely. I don't believe we've met since then-In fact, I don't believe I've ever introduced myself. My name is Naoto Shirogane." Tired. She was simply tired and perhaps a little on edge due to lack of sleep.

One of them let out a soft noise, like a choke or gasp for air. She kept her eyes on the teen in front of her. He shifted his feet. Good. The intent  _was_  to make him uncomfortable. If any of the others recognized her name, only the better.

"I'm investigating the multiple murders that have occurred here. Mind if I ask you a few questions on the subject?" She carried on without actually waiting for any kind of confirmation. "The latest victim, Kinshiro Morooka...He was a teacher at the school you all attend, correct?"

The short haired girl was the one who replied. "S-So what?"

Naoto turned her head slightly, her gaze first lingering on the shaggy-haired boy, then her eyes flicked to the girl. She did a small nervous bounce. Uneasy as well. Promising.

"The public is focused on the fact that he is associated with the second victim's school...But in truth, that's irrelevant. What intrigues me is the inconsistency. This Morooka...has never appeared on television. What do you make of that?"

And there it was. The unease of the group was so thick she thought she could reach out and touch it. Glances were exchanged, feet tapped nervously, arms were crossed. The only two who did not seem to show agitation were the silver-haired young man and, oddly, Tatsumi.

Tatsumi, who got nervous simply being looked at most of the time, simply looked slightly confused. Maybe he had not yet been involved with the matter long enough or deeply enough to know all the details. If that was indeed the case, she could easily re-affiliate herself with him and tap him as a source the way she had started some weeks ago. Also, Kujikawa was not yet with them. Another good sign.

Not as good as their reaction now however.

"H-How are we supposed to know?" snapped the boy. She needed to find out the names of these teens and investigate their backgrounds.

"Well, we'll leave it at that." Naoto smiled knowingly. They were hiding something. Time to push them off balance just that touch more. "I'll be keeping an eye on you all," With this, she left, walking straight past them, headed straight to the station. She had more paperwork to prepare now.

* * *

**July 11** **th,** **2011**

Okay, so she did smirk.

Naoto had waited at the Junes food court, her back to a wall, a newspaper open. When the teens started to arrive, she fixed each of them in their minds. Hanamura. Satonaka. Amagi. Narukami. A very slender blonde boy. The only name she could find on the blonde boy was "Teddie". Their voices were low, but still carried well enough to catch the gist of what was going on.

It seemed they spoke in some sort of code about certain locations or occurrences, possibly knowing that they could be overheard at such a public place. What "T.V." could be short for was a bit of a puzzle. They could not mean actually entering a television set. But they did speak of the rumored Midnight Channel. Her deduction that somehow the late night show NightLine was involved seemed to hold water.

However… Dojima had been rather clear this morning. They felt she no longer was needed now. They had a suspect and would start connecting the dots leading to them. Well, the way the scene was utterly littered with evidence, even someone like Adachi-san should have been able to find  _something_. She had still decided to keep an eye on things, until they were fully wrapped up. The case still held some holes in the trail of evidence and she needed to know what happened on the first two murders.

She folded up the paper and got up to deliver the good news.

As she approached the table, she heard Satonaka say "Well, we'll do what we can, for King Moron's sake too! At this rate, you have to figure that the killer has something to do with the school, right? So why don't we split up and-"

"That won't be necessary."  _I am cool. I am collected. Let me show you how this is handled by someone who has the maturity you still lack._

She heard Tatsumi stutter a faint "Y- You…"

Whatever he had meant to say, she would not give him the chance. "There is no need to examine the case of Mister Morooka any further." She placed a hand on her hip, squaring up before them. "Apparently, the police have found a suspect. It would be best to let them handle the case from here."

It was Satonaka again who jumped in. She seemed to also not handle any kind of silence well. "They found a suspect...!? Who is it!?"

"It isn't public knowledge yet, but he isn't a student of your high school. It seems they are quite confident that this boy is the killer.. Soon, this case will be solved, and your town will once again be its peaceful, rustic self." She would not smile. As much as she felt like being condescending to these teens; as much as she wanted to show them how actual police work was done, she kept herself in check.

Hanamura stared at the table for a moment, then looked her squarely in the eye. "All right...So why come tell us? That's confidential info, right? Why run right here and spill it?"

She turned her head to face him. That had been an unusually sharp observation on his part. "Your 'game' will soon reach its end. I felt I should at least let you know that."  _Okay, so maybe a little bit condescending._  It was the truth however. They should not have meddled. Police work is not the place for curious children or teenagers who think they can outwit professionals.

"It's not a game to us." Narukami, who had been quiet most of the conversation so far, did not look at her as he said this.

"You don't deny, then, that you have involved yourselves in the matter?" This time, no one rose to her bait. "Well, no matter. I have no reason to say anything further." Naoto turned, ready to leave. Should she find them interfering any further, she could-

Something pounded behind her, and as she turned around, Kujikawa was standing, her hands pressed hard against the table. "Aren't you the one who thinks of this as a game?" she snapped. "All you're doing is solving mysteries, playing at detective!"

The young detective felt herself being stunned into silence at the outburst.

Kujikawa wasn't finished. "You're the one who's playing a game here!"

"Rise's right," Hanamura cut in. "The second victim, Saki Konishi. You know her? "

Naoto nodded. "I've seen her files."  _Where did that line of reasoning come into play?_

"So? How does that matter? You didn't know her and you don't know any of us - because if you did, you'd know this wasn't a game." Hanamura tried his best glare on the young detective. Not really intimidating. Observing the interview of a high-stakes drug dealer was much more unnerving, but it was a good attempt at appearing disquiet.

She pondered her reply for a moment. "A game."She tipped her chin down a little to try and hide her expression. This was not the first time she had been told this, and yet the words still stung a little. "That may be quite true."

Working by following in the footsteps of four generations, she could be seen as playing at the vocation of her parents and grandfather. But there had been others who underestimated her in the past; many of which now quite likely cursed their blasé attitude from a jail cell.

"Ah, I get it." In an instant, Hanamura's glare shifted to a self-statesfied smirk. "What, did they get rid of you now they've got their man? Is that why you came here? " He leaned back and stared at the young detective, arms folded. "You were lonely?"

Ah, we have reached the stage of ad hominem. Any interrogation reached this moment, where the interviewed locked up, feeling they found a way out – generally by uttering personal attacks. The one chosen by Hanamura was a very well-known one to Naoto and she did not rise to it. "Detectives normally aren't involved with arrests," she stated plainly. "And we never harbor any special emotions regarding a case, either."

"Uh - so they d-dropped you?" Tatsumi stammered, staring firmly at the table.  _Still unable to look at me._  That was another promising continuation for her. If he felt even slightly intimidated by her, she could build on his discomfort.

Still, he had been the most placid and almost kind in his reply. She felt like snapping another cool retort, but changed her mind to not damage any potential future conversations at this point. A slightly more open response was needed. One that would show her mature bearing as well as her control over the situation.

"It is rather unfortunate that people are only attentive so long as our services are required - but I'm accustomed to it."

No one replied to this. Tatsumi flashed her a short look – was that pity in his eyes? – but no one else mustered any kind of response.

She could have left earlier. Should have, really. Maybe she had already said too much just then. "Well, I'll be going now."

Turning, Naoto marched out of the food court, not hearing a single word spoken as she left. She knew Grampa had sent some more case files for her to review. While she could turn her main attention on that, she still would remain here to see the case come to a complete close.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is wrong. The police feel they have solved the case, but there is too much still that does not make sense.  
> Maybe she simply needs to re-illiterate to the officials involved that they are missing vital clues and stress that she can list proof they are most likely not arresting the correct person for the first two murders. Perhaps she simply needs to push a little harder. 
> 
> Or perhaps she needs to solve this on her own, in an approach she would not have considered a few months ago.

**August 21** **st** **, 2011**

There are so many amiable ways one could wake up in the morning.

The slow, gradual awakening that comes when the sun rises and slowly floods the room with light. The smell of foodstuffs, tea or coffee. Having ones name called by a loving family member. Birdsong, the rushing of waves – even thunderstorms could be a nice thing to wake up to.

Unfortunately for Naoto, she woke up pre-dawn after a fitful nightmare by falling off the couch, straight into a small heap of papers, folders and discarded clothes.

Scrambling to her feet, slipping as some papers slid away from under her, her hand reached for the side of her leg to pull out her gun. She peered around the barely-lit room in panic when she found herself unarmed. It took a few moments to realize that not only did she not have her weapon within reach, but that she also did not need it.

Relief turned her legs into jelly and she dropped hard on her knees, her throat feeling ragged from panting. She slanted forward, her left hand steadying her, her right hand clutched to her chest.  _Calm yourself. It was only a dream. Nothing really happened. You are safe in your own apartment, not battling for air; not fighting for your life._

After allowing herself some long minutes of controlled breathing and having her eyes adjust to the little bit of light there was, Naoto came to her feet. No wonder, really, that she had slept poorly. She had fallen asleep on the couch, surrounded by the case work of the murders. Fractions of her dream returned, one of them being pushed under water, an assailant trying to drown her.

This is of course to be expected, when falling asleep fully dressed… and still  _bound_. Breathing was an issue while wearing her chest binding already, add to that being asleep and slumped into the couch. She had likely struggled for breath rather badly before she woke up.

She unbuttoned her shirt and released the binding on her chest. Immediately she felt her emotional distress recede even further, as she felt the first deep breaths unhindered by her masquerade. Starting the day at this point was as good as any other she decided, and turned towards the bathroom. Or at least trying to get there. Barely catching herself, as she stumbled over a small but unexpected stack of reference books.

Her apartment had turned into… it was  _not_  messy. She simply had spent the last week deeply involved with the case. There was no time to straighten up or sort through the boxes she had filled with discarded information. But still, that only her shelves had any semblance of order was somewhat out of character for her. She'd find some time to fix that, just not right now.

Entering the bathroom, she turned on the light without thinking, and winced from the sudden brightness. Pressing her eyes shut hard, she blindly tossed her shirt and bindings towards the general direction of the laundry basket. Very slowly re-opening her eyes, she continued to undress, added the remainder of her clothes into the basket and stepped into the shower.

She stretched out and pressed her hands against the wall. Leaning under the stream of hot water, allowing the sore muscles in her shoulders and neck to relax; letting the muscles in her back take back some of the work her bindings had claimed for over a day. She needed to finish her work so she could allow herself a proper resting schedule again. Right now there was so much to do that she could not spare the time, but falling asleep from exhaustion three nights in a row had started to negatively affect her physically. If this kept up too long, it might start to affect her mental prowess.

Right now, it was not sluggish thoughts that were the issue. As soon as she allowed her mind to drift a moment, her thoughts flickered from note to note, photo to photo, every few seconds a new scrap of evidence popping into her mind. She tried to tame the wild race of her consciousness, feeling overwhelmed by the staggering amount of work before her, and the avalanche of facts that pushed forward. Bringing it all to paper in an orderly fashion once she was refreshed from her shower would surely help with that. It would also be something she could hand over to Dojima to understand where it was headed right now, and why this case had taken a wrong turn.

* * *

**August 25** **th** **, 2011**

"I get all that, and I don't think you're completely off track -" Dojima started.

"My reasoning is not flawed whatsoever!" Naoto pinched her eyes shut and her hand flew to her forehead. The headache had now been present for four days thoroughgoing. The pain she could deal with. The distraction that came with it was another matter entirely. She slowly opened her eyes, rubbing her forehead slowly.

The look on the detective's face changed from irritation to concern. "Are you feeling all-"

"I am fine." Her hand jerked back to her lap. "I simply was up late and am feeling slightly unfocused." She turned back to the two big file boxes she had brought along to the office today. "If we could continue, I have further proof here that Kubo was  _not_  involved in the first two murders. I have also prepared itemized lists that will provide the evidence. I urge you to present these to your supervisors."

Dojima-san sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair. He could sigh all he wanted, so long as he finally listened.

She had spent long hours both at home and here at the station to clearly assemble and label the information they had on the three murder cases. She had taken specific care to even cross-reference the conflicting bits of information in such a manner that no one, not even Adachi, would be able to misunderstand. Naoto articulated at length which bits of information linked where; where needed proof was missing; how the scenes differed.

And yet she caught him leaning back in his chair and gazing at the ceiling several times. He busied himself with scribbling geometric shapes in a notebook, checked his phone, and mournfully glanced into his empty coffee mug.

"Dojima-san? Please, keep your attention on the matter at hand. We are about to try a young man for crimes he did not commit. Not only that, we may very well be on the path to allowing the real murderer to go free!"

He had not looked at her while she spoke, and still did not. When he spoke, his voice was soft and sounded tired.

"Shirogane-san. I see how much work you put into all of this. I cannot believe I am saying this, but I value your input on all of this. You may just be a kid-" Naoto flashed him a glare and straightened her back- "but you did good. That said, the matter is in the final stages. We will not be adding new evidence to the case at this point, or take apart the case that the district attorney has built."

Had he been  _listening_? "Dojim-"

"No, Shirogane. I am sorry, but this is where our work ends." He finally sat back up and turned to face her. "I even agree with most of your findings. You're a smart one, wonder boy, and I think you'll go far. But before you do, there is something you'll need to learn. Sometimes a case simply needs to be closed. Inaba is a small town. People are scared and worry because they have not been given a solution yet. It's been months now that we have been working on this. The brass wants a pound of flesh and they will get it with Kubo. Our work  _ends_  here."

He stood and she jumped to her feet along with him. This didn't make sense. Dojima-san's implication here warped all she knew and understood about the legal system, about justice, about the profession of a detective. He was making a grave mistake and it was up to her to stop him. Maybe reason could work when logic seemed to fail him.

"Detective, surely you worry about another murderer still being out there? Is preventing another death not the true goal of capturing the murderer? If you present my findings, I am certain you can show the value of a proper solution to your superiors."

He hesitated at that. "I have a feeling that the first two murderers were linked to Yamano. Someone wanted her. They did away with the poor girl because she could identify him. There was no serial killer in the making here, Shirogane." He reached out to clasp her shoulder and she dodged away under his hand. He just shrugged. "Learn to let it go."

A proverbial avalanche of thoughts drowned out any semblance of coherent thought she may have had left as she watched him toss her assembled evidence into the boxes, stack them up and drop them besides his wastepaper basket.

Staring at the boxes at her feet, she murmured "This is a crass miscalculation…"

"Life is full of mistakes. Go home, Shirogane. Get some sleep."

She wasn't sure if he had meant well, but she left the discussion in a bitter mood.

After this discussion, Naoto spent another five hours at the station, trying to find any other officers or detectives who would listen to reason. Anyone at all who could possibly help her push back and address the issue correctly and with the right goals in mind.

* * *

**August 26** **th** **, 2011**

Her apartment was in a sorry state; littered with discarded food containers, case notes and discarded clothing. Somewhere in the back of her mind she even realized that. There may have been the echo of a mild scolding, a memory of some adult getting her to understand the necessity of an orderly living space. She ignored it.

Still in her pajamas (when had she last actually gone to bed?) Naoto stepped over a stack of files, squeezed past a discarded pile of copies, pushed a few file boxes aside with her foot and hopped over empty food containers to reach her couch.

There simply had to be a way to persuade Dojima-san and Sawaguchi to continue the work before them. The latter had started to try and prevent her from gaining access to the detectives. Why he would do that, she was unsure. Had someone directed him to do that? From the personality of the man, she would not have doubted he had taken it upon himself.

There was a murderer on the loose. This wasn't the case of some petty crime; not the matter of simply a thief being active. Unlike tax evasion or counterfeiting, people could lose their lives here.

In her mind, she had tried to find the missing pieces over and over. She even had reverted back to a professional assassin having been called in. The lack of traces meant that the perpetrator could very well have been a professional who knew how to evade detection.

She picked up a couple of loose pages from her note pad. They were filled with random lucid strings of thought. She had, at least for a while, tried really hard to fit Niteline and the rumor of the midnight channel into the current theories. Any time she hit a block in her trails, she picked the thought of the television show back up. Also, the teens several weeks ago had spoken of the television, as if they had any idea of how these ridiculous theories could be linked. Still, nothing she tried lead anywhere.

She crunched the notes up and tossed them in the general direction of one of her 'rejected ideas' corner. She  _would_  pick up and sort out the discarded papers. Maybe tomorrow. Possibly.

She ran her tongue over dry lips, wincing as she felt the sharp edge of cracked skin. She was clearly dehydrated. It showed in headaches, general sluggish thinking and the odd cramp. Yet, it wasn't really on her mind. She wasn't hungry or thirsty as such. Food and drink needed to be considered, alongside picking up her apartment. Later.

Maybe she had tried to start at the wrong end of things. Talking to Sawaguchi, the patrol officer who had found the first two victims, could being another ally to her. Surely he had an interest in avoiding further murders. The streets and the people living in them certainly were his main concern. There was still the chance that he was simply blocking her access because Dojima-san had asked him to.

Naoto glanced at her watch. Twenty minutes to four in the morning. Deciding it was too late to try and sleep again and too early to start writing, she got up and started to poke through the different piles of reference material, copies of files and reprints of pictures she had gathered. She knew she had one more shot if she simply started by approaching the police officers.

Ignoring the headache pulsing whenever she moved, she carelessly upended another file box and started to add evidence to her theory into it. She simply had to make them see. She would not have case 25 be sullied by bad investigative measures she had no control over.

* * *

**August 27** **th** **, 2011**

Naoto stormed after Sawaguchi through the darkened streets. He had the  _gall_  to take her files and stick her work into the shredder, right before her eyes, then simply leave the office as if nothing had happened?

The snickering of the other officers present still replayed in her head again and again. Why they would willingly engage in childish bullying when the reputation of their department ( _and_  hers) stood on the line…

And then there was Adachi. After a … disagreement with the young detective over the proper handling of evidence, and the subsequent order to "Go home and get some sleep, kiddo" from another officer present; she had rushed after the patrol officer in a last desperate shot to get him to listen. Why would no one  _listen_  to her? Did they not see; did they not  _understand_  how vital this matter was?

"Sawaguchi-san... Sawaguchi! Please wait!"

The officer not only did not wait, he did not even turn around to look at her. Instead, he turned right and entered the north end of the shopping district, walking as if nothing was amiss.

But she simply could not stop. She had to make them understand. She had to ensure they would not let this mistake carry on any longer.

Running to catch up, she called out again. "Sawaguchi-san! It must be in your own interest as well to ensure that the right person gets caught! You'll want to avoid further deaths in your town, am I right? If you take just one read through my assembled data you must agree that Kubo-"

The officer stopped and turned to face her. A slow smirk spread over his face. "Naoto, look. You're an okay kid. But Kubo did it. He confessed, we have the evidence we need to lock him up for good."

 _Calling me by my first name?!_  Naoto felt outrage well up, hot and unhindered. She was exhausted, she was tired, she felt weak and shaky and now this man had the absolute arrogance to address her like a member of his own family?

"You will not address me in that manner! I do you the curtesy of addressing you properly, the least you can do to a freelance detective" here he snorted a laugh "is to do the same in return. You cannot possibly want me to believe that you are so incompetent to not see the proof when I labeled it out for you and so unqualified that you feel threatened by someone younger than you to actually having to point it out?" She rambled. She realized she was rambling. She also realized she was shouting. Neither mattered. This man, this stupid, shortsighted, ludicrous little man held in his hand the future of possible women and children in this town and he simply laughed!

His voice was soft as velvet when he replied. "And you are taking yourself way too seriously."

He tried to turn around and keep walking, but she shot past him, back straight, shoulders up, blocking his path. "You may conceivably ignore me, but you cannot possibly ignore the facts! Morooka was attacked and killed by Kubo, but that's all he did. He-"

"Yeah, and he will be punished for that and for what he did to Yamano and Konishi as well."

"I'm telling you, he isn't the killer!" Her voice sounded weird to her ears. She felt the lump in her throat trying to constrict her. If he walks away from this she may well lose her only and last chance to solve this matter before anyone else would suffer. And she risked her first unsolved case. Raising her voice, her practiced low range cracking at the edges. "Are you people blind?"

"Okay, wonder boy, that's enough. I have work to do. You can go along and play detective elsewhere now. And if it helps you, I'll promise you that we will punish Kubo, okay?"

"While you're wasting time, the real culprit will-"

She snapped her mouth shut. Sawaguchi had turned away and was striding down the road. He had shut her away as neatly as if she had turned into thin air.

Naoto tried to find more words. She made a slicing motion with her arm, started to rush forward again. But she stopped after simply stamping out her foot. She felt sick. Tired, sick, desperate, shocked, frightened, shaky. If she could be only a little honest with herself, she actually shook with untamed fury as well as with the fear of failure. But this was not the end. She still could crack this. The police may stop working diligently, but she would not. She could not simply give up and let a possible serial killer escape and remain free to strike again.

Her shoulders and back loosened. Her hands slowly balled up into fists. Another battle demanded her attention. Her eyes were stinging and she felt hot tears of exasperation well up, blurring her vision. Still panting she shifted her focus to try catching her impotent rage and shut it down. She could still catch up to the man, but if he saw tears, he would dismiss anything further she had to say.

She did not hear the sliding door beside her open.

Did not hear him approach.

Did not hear him say anything.

"C'mon, don't-"

A hand brushed her shoulder.

Naoto's reflexes reacted before any kind of coherent thought would form through the red mist soaking her thoughts. She dodged, took two rapid steps back and ducked, ready to tackle the possible assailant.

The next second she realized that the shadowy figure towering before her was Kanji Tatsumi. Just as she had dodged away, he jerked back. His breath caught, as if he has been surprised. Why would HE feel surprise? He had been trying to grab her after all! To make it worse, her carefully assembled scraps of self-composure came crashing down.

"Wh-What are you-" Naoto started out to snap at the boy, but her voice started to break apart and she felt a whimper trying to climb up her throat. She spun away from the blonde and lifted her arm before her eyes.

"S-sorry, man, I d-didn't-"

"You - I don't-" The tears she had battled fell. Big, obvious, shameful drops catching on her arm and the back of her hand. The shiver of anger fled, overturned, and she now found herself fighting the urge to sob out loud in frustration.

Why was he here? Why had he come? Why was it that the one person she needed to be able to keep in careful control was so close to see her break down and cry? So close to see her carefully built persona as a junior-hardboiled detective shatter? And even though she had turned away from him, he would still not leave.

"I just wanna - look, what was with that cop?"

Sawaguchi. Adachi. Dojima. In her minds' eye she saw them talking about her. Laughing. Dismissing her work. If she were to add to that the stigma of emotional instability that clings to women, her future would be over.

Helplessness fled as quickly as it had tried to take control of her. Cold anger came crashing back and instantly suppressed her tears, her shivers and the lump in her throat.

"It's nothing," she muttered, her voice being perfectly low and level. "Excuse me, I need to go." She tugged down her cap, dodged around Tatsumi and marched home.

For a moment she thought he took a breath to call after her. He did not, and she was glad for it.

One of the seemingly least capable here in Inaba, a young man who seemed to have a mild stutter, issues making friends and a police record thick as her fist, and  _he_  was the first one here to approach her and offer help.

The youth had given her an idea however. If she were to remain in Inaba and in turn get herself involved with the locals, including the students here, she should be able to continue her work without fear of being blocked by the police. For all they knew, they had gotten rid of her and she could just play along with that on the outside.

The easiest way to solve several of these problems was of course to enroll to the local high school. She would get that paperwork sorted out in the coming days.

Truthfully giving up and abandoning the case? She would not allow that. She would not allow them to ruin her reputation.

* * *

**September 7** **th** **2011,**

It had been too long since Naoto had endured any kind of formally institutionalized education. That was the only logical explanation as to why fitting in proved to be such a challenge. The other option was that the general future of Japan was at peril, as the next generation was hopelessly incompetent and incapable.

She had explained to Grampa what her reasoning was and he readily supported her idea to attend Yaso High. Actually, looking back, he very, very quickly agreed. Possibly because he knew he had a longer trip to the United States approaching and knowing her in a regular daily schedule would put his mind at ease.

She had forgotten how… How utterly  _immature_  her peers were. She had not even entered the school building when Hanamura …  _senpai_ … had dubbed her "pint sized detective". Other nicknames of different level of quite dubious fondness were "Detective Prince", "Shirogane Heir", or "Short Stuff". The need for these bizarre nicknames were fully beyond her. Shirogane-san. Easy. Respectful. And most of all the proper and adult way of address.

Further, her fellow students seemed unable to keep records. If she had the muse for it, she could have created a bingo-card by now. Each lesson and class intersecting with certain names – Kujikawa came to the forefront of her mind at once. Other wanted to outright copy her homework. Where was the educational benefit in that? To study and learn any subject matter, practice was needed. If a student was unable to reproduce the work given as study assistance, simply copying the results would not anchor them in their mind.

Not that this was her only source of exasperation. The term had barely started and already they were preparing to leave on a school trip. There was next to no educational value in this undertaking!

Adding some extra shirts into her backpack, neatly covering the additional bindings she would take along, Naoto repeatedly doubted the rationale that had led her to enroll. A bit over a week ago the solution seemed so clear and logical. Looking for information, one goes to the source of the matter. Simple. That this source would end up being behind social barbed wire was not something she had put much thought into.

Instead of gathering new intelligence, she spent her days fending off approaches by female classmates, sneers from male classmates, and the oddly specific attentions of Kujikawa, who seemed to try and ensnare 'Naoto-kun' into some sort of social arrangement. Not even she would properly address her as Shirogane-san. It was maddening.

What also was maddening was the persistency of the idol. Invites to have lunches or dinners; 'Just hang out with me, Naoto-kun!'; offers to exchange phone numbers so they could 'chat more'… The detective was uncertain why or for which ultimate goal, but Kujikawa kept appearing – often followed or heralded by Tatsumi.

All of this would be solved at a later time, she was certain. Possibly right after fending off another invite to a 'study session'. The manner in which these took place had previously observed by Naoto. It was an extended snack time at Junes if it came down to it. Sure, books were open, but no one looked at the subject matter.

For now, preparing for the school trip took precedence. Naoto assembled three case files she would be taking along. She had time during the trip to work and unlike school and the implications of being locked up with a few dozen children, working would at least be a productive outlet for her energies.

Her gaze lingered on the files marked  _Yamano_  and  _Konishi_  as she stood in front of her desk. "I've not forgotten about you." Staring at this thick stack, she was reminded why she would suffer through anything this school semester would bring. Two young women needed to have their justice. And while others might have abandoned them…

Resting her hands on the files, frowning, she tonelessly repeated herself. "I have not forgotten."


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While her fellow students are thrilled about the idea of a school trip, Naoto wishes she did not have to waste her time like this.  
> The only upside seems to be that some of her peers are pleasant enough to socialize with.

**September 8th, 2011**

Being inconspicuous leaving the train station had been simple.

Remaining such once actually on the train proved onerous.

Jaw clenched, cap pulled down so far she could barely look straight ahead, Naoto had attempted to hole up in a corner of the train and work. A bona fide  _parade_  of girls – of both first  _and_  second years – had made working so far impossible. Every few minutes she had to deflect invites to strolls, testing someone's home-made snack or pointless small talk. Most of them had given up after a while and left. This last group of three, however, would not be shaken.

She tried clipped, short replies. She tried glares. She tried plainly stating disinterest. Nothing,  _nothing_  worked. Megumi Enomoto had her sights set on being an aggravation and it seemed nothing could stop her.

When the girls chirped they would go find some refreshments to bring "the Prince", Naoto had enough. Hastily gathering up her files and bag, she jumped up and started to move through the wagons towards the back of the train. There had to be some place,  _any_  place, where she could just sit and work in peace.

Most compartments were filled with students chatting while texting or browsing online chat sites. The noise of chatter hung thick around small groups of students throughout. She kept walking until she reached one of the last carriages. In one of larger open-space wagons the she saw Kanji Tatsumi sitting by himself; staring out of the window. If not for her current mood being too dark to show any actual emotion, she would have sighed in relief. Tatsumi was quiet and he rarely exchanged more than a few brief words with most students – even less with her. Also, his perceived image could potentially keep some of her…  _admirers_ … at bay. She had seen first-hand how students would leave the moment they spotted Tatsumi walk towards them.

She shifted her bag and walked straight up to him. In truth, she had not yet figured out how to best establish – or re-establish – cordial interactions with the youth. She had not yet dismissed his value for her own investigations, either, and if she was honest with herself, his quiet moods suited her well. If only for his temper not being quite as fickle.

That was neither here nor there right now. Right now, all she wanted was some quiet.

"Kanji Tatsumi?"

She waited, hoping that none of the girls out prowling for her could see her standing in the aisle. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed no one paying her much attention. She slowly edged closer to him, leaning in a bit to make herself less visible. Searching his face for any reaction, all she saw was a blank frown directed at the world outside.

She tried again. "Tatsumi-san, I apologize for disturbing you, but..."

The youth twisted in his seat with a yelp and stared at her, wide-eyed. Looking quite startled, he gaped at her but he did not respond past that initial reaction.

She swallowed as much of her frustration over the general foolishness of the situation and pointed at the seat beside the blonde. "Forgive the intrusion. This seat is free, correct?"

"Uh," was all that he said. Tatsumi just stared and blinked at her.

Oh. Yes, Tatsumi. She needed to be specific. "May I sit here?" Naoto clarified.

"Uh...y-yeah! 'Course." Kanji straightened his slouch, back pressed against his seat. His head snapped back towards the window, clearly not interested in chatter. Just as well, really, she welcomed the thought of getting some quiet and had hoped for this.

She nodded a stiff thanks, sitting down.

Naoto immediately tugged open the zipper on her bag and pulled out a yellow folder. She pulled out one of the copies regarding a theft Grampa had asked her thoughts on and started to compare her notes on the matter with those of the elder Shirogane. The tool marks at the door to the safe room were indeed strange. Whatever had been used to gain access must have either been made by their thief, or was of a use and function so strange she had not yet considered.

Gazing at the photographs of the scene, she thought she noticed Tatsumi shift in his seat awkwardly a few times. He was likely to be somewhat uncomfortable. Being above average height could be as much a problem on public transit as being… well. She could envision how he felt.

"Naoto-kun!"

Naoto froze, fist clenching tightly around a sheet of paper.  _Oh no._

Fixing a glare at her papers, she tilted her head further down so she would not need to see the three girls coming towards her. "Naoto-kun, why'd you run away? We just wanted to say hi!" Did all females have to have such annoyingly high-pitched voices? The squeal from one of the girls as someone tapped the brim of her cap was enough to set her teeth on edge.

"Hello." Naoto frowned at the paper in her fist; uncrumpled the copy; shoved it back in the folder and held the case files shut with both hands. "I believe that concludes matters."

"You wanna hang out with us at Port Island? I bet you've been there before, right?" That sounded like Megumi Enomoto. She had ignored her. She had withdrawn from her. She had made a point of not opening the letters she passed along to her in class. What would it take to make her distance herself?

"As I have stated previously, I have no interest in such activities. Please leave me in peace." Naoto glared at the folder in her lap. "This casework is most pressing."

She felt Tatsumi shift beside her. Why did he not seem to have these issues? He was a handsome enough young man, proportioned well and certainly would have responded to the ministrations of his class mates. Well. Perhaps. Once he could get over his nervousness when speaking to others. Maybe he was about to say something?

"Aw, c'mon, Naoto-kun! You could-"

Another voice interrupted Enomoto here. "Megumi, we don't want to interrupt the Detective Prince, right? Now the killer's been caught, he's probably working on a new big case!"

 _Caught_? Simpletons! They play their foolish games of social stature; they keep her from her work and they happily accept the pre-processed explanations given without any doubt! Caught? If it were that simple, the Shirogane family would not need to bother with their inconsequent little town! She could have moved on to her next case already and would not be sitting in this train, surrounded by the limited mental capacities of hormonal teenagers.

By the time she had riled herself up to the point of reply and brought her pulse down enough to try and give a level answer, Enomoto spoke up again. "I guess." She sounded very hesitant. "But we'll be back later, Naoto-kun, okay?"

 _Here is hoping you won't be._  Naoto sighed softly and pulled her cap down to cover her face fully. She did not trust herself to accidentally ignite the seat in front of her by glaring at it.

Tatsumi cleared his throat. "They still chasing you?"

"Yes. I have dissuaded most of them but those three are very persistent. I left my previous seat to escape their attentions."

There was a moment of quiet. She pushed her cap back up and re-opened her folder. The youth beside her made a small sound as if to reply, but kept silent for a moment longer. "They...uh. They don't mean no harm." He hesitated again before he continued. "They prob'ly just like you."

Still looking down at her papers, she shook her head at that. "You cannot  _like_  someone without knowing them."

Getting to know someone takes time and effort. She herself could tell tales of that. Always moving left her with no chance whatsoever to 'like' anyone. She could  _appreciate_  certain limited aspects of a person's traits. Say, Dojima-san's approach to work. She also recently learned how easy it is to dislike based on traits. Adachi's carelessness came to mind at once.

However, her work being what it was and her need to be able to move frequently from location to location; from contract to contact… It simply left her with little drive to even build any such social constructs. She had Grampa and the estate. Having that one anchor in her life suited her well enough.

"Tatsumi, would you mind if I-" She turned her head to check if she took too much space, but Tatsumi had zoned out again. He quite possibly had no interest in further conversation and the slight frown pointed to him having his own thoughts he did not intent to share at this time. Instead of repeating her question, she simply re-arranged the files and copies so that she could read them while writing into her note book without bothering the young man.

The rest of the day progressed mostly as expected with one exception.

Naoto was deeply impressed by the scope of Gekkoukan High. She had read up on the school before coming here of course. The Kirijo Group spent a large sum of money to refurbish a disused laboratory into a model High School. New architecture design combined with state-of-the-art specialty rooms for crafts, science and Home Ec. The name selected, "Moonlight Hall", reflected the beauty of the grounds in general.

Shortly after the opening, however, reports started to appear in the local papers that the school suffered from an explosion. After this, there had been a second remodel of the building.

Her lessons at the school had been enjoyable. The cool interior colours focused the mind nicely, allowing students to take in all that was being taught… or would have, if not for those who were seemingly fused to the technology of their mobile phones. She also found herself yet again stoically ignoring written notes others tried to pass on to her. Especially that one with a small heart surrounding the words 'My Prince'.

She would have enjoyed to stay longer, truth be told. The laboratories looked impressive for any high school – even a private one backed by the Kirijo Group. Sadly, their schedule was tight and had left her no time to return for a closer inspection.

She had followed the trek of students to the hotel they were assigned for this weekend. For most of the way she had her head down into one of her new case files, following the others on auto-pilot. The longer they walked down narrow streets, the more she felt puzzled. As the lights overhead turned into garishly coloured neon signs, she stopped trying to read and looked about to get her bearings. They were headed down Shirakawa Boulevard, but this area did not actually have any hostels or –

She swallowed. Hard.

As their teacher took a turn towards one of the neon-lit hourly hotels, Naoto's hand flew to her cap and she tugged the brim down to her eyes. Of all the places their teacher could possibly take a group of already hormonal high schoolers to, it had to be a  _love hotel_?

Pinching her eyes shut a moment, she overheard the pleased jeers of her 'fellow male' students, some of whom did not miss out to boast how they could totally get this or that girl to join them in one of these. And she would need to spend two nights with these Romeos.

When she heard a cluster of giggles nearby and raised her cap a sliver, she at once realized that an overabundance of male hormones would only be about 50% of her misery.

Several of the girls had their eyes fixed on Naoto and whispered loudly with one another, blushing furiously in some cases.

_Double time, Shirogane!_

She grabbed a sheet showing her room assignment, rushing inside to grab a key and hide in the room. Until morning, if she could. On her way she tried to ignore the setting as best she could. The strongly dimmed lighting in eye-straining colours; the speakers throughout the hallways playing hard-thumping music; the vending machined she only needed to glance at once to decide she would not do so a second time…

She reached her room before the other two and decided she would take the chance to unpack and find a sleeping arrangement that would allow her some limited privacy. Once unpacked, she picked up her folders and decided to simply quietly work, while she had the chance.

Her progress had been swift, once she familiarized herself with the cases. One of them she had already finished her theories on and prepared an email to be sent later. The other cases might need a sliver more work.

By the time her two roommates arrived, she had spent a good half hour taking notes and sorting through the papers Grampa had send her. She closed her folder and watched the two boys fall over themselves to claim the remaining space of the room. When one of them proudly started to show off the … goods he had just pulled from the vending machine, Naoto jumped up, nearly spilling her folders' contents to the floor in the process.

"I, eer, I-I…" She cleared her throat, the slight pressure from speaking at a lower register fighting with the panic of embarrassment. "I need to go get some fresh air before bed."

"Don't get caught!" laughed one of her class mates.

"I do not intend to be out past curfew. Our teachers won't-"

"I wasn't talking about the teachers trying to catch you, man." The twin grins haunted her as she stumbled out of the door and plunged into the hallway.

After staring at the closed door for a moment, she turned to wander the hallways. Surely no girl would be bold or hormonal enough to try and sneak onto the boys' floor? Though if she gave in to rumour, the choice of hotel had been based on fancies, rather than any economic reason. Surely this place could not be cheaper than other lodgings. She latched on to that thought. A nice, safe topic to ponder. She could compare prices and locations of different lodgings to follow up on the rumour concerning the selection of their hotel.

She didn't pay as much attention as she possibly should have. Emerging into one of the main hallways of the floor, she felt someone tackle her.

In a first moment of trepidation, she feared one of the girls had actually snuck up and she was on the receiving end of a failed 'glomp'. But as she stumbled sideways, catching her balance to ready herself to fend off whoever it might be, she quickly realized she had no cause for true alarm.

Tatsumi jumped back while stretching one arm out towards her. "Oh, crap! S-sorry, man."

Naoto's back stiffened. "Kanji Tatsumi." She replied with her low, practiced voice. Getting upset at Tatsumi really was not necessary. She had not been paying attention and he was a bit ungainly. None the less. Trying to stand up straight, she felt her shoulders draw forward. He was just  _too_  tall. Beside him, she always felt vanishingly small.

Realizing he had not knocked Naoto over, he fidgeted a moment. "You, uh, looking for a vending machine too?" His eyes jumped nervously between her, the walls and the floor. If he could rid himself of his jumpiness around her, he might actually be passable companionship. She also noticed that his stutter was not present. It did not seem to be a real condition in his case, but more of a sign of anxiousness.

"I am not looking for a way to spend any money, no. I am investigating this hotel. I am...uncertain why Ms. Kashiwagi chose these lodgings."

"I-I just want a soda. Maybe some junk food. But the vending machines, they're - uh, weird." He glanced back from where he had come from, and Naoto saw exactly what machine he was looking at.

An uncomfortable heat climbed up her neck. She tucked down her cap and inspected the floor. "You... do know what sort of hotel this is?"

She saw him shuffle his feet and head how his breath caught. "N-no. No way. Wh-why would I?" Ah. The stutter had returned, a certain sign of Tatsumi's discomfort and embarrassment.

She did not feel much better off. The heat was steadily creeping higher and she was certain she was flushed. This was not a topic suited for casual conversation. Especially not between her and a male student of her own school. And him thinking she was 'one of the guys' could make this even more awkward if she was not being careful. Thankfully he had deflected her thoughtless comment.

"Oh. Of course." She half-turned from him. "Well. Good night, Tatsumi-san." With that she marched herself quickly down the corridor towards the stairwell. A walk in the fresh air might really be needed by now, if only to get rid of some of the heat under her collar.

* * *

 

**September 9th, 2011**

By early afternoon it seemed like Miss Kashiwagi must have depleted her ideas on how to keep the teens entertained, so the evening was open to everyone's own enjoyment. Naoto had chosen to spend her evening on her own and parted ways with her roommates.

Remembering her investigations here in Tatsumi Port Island, she went to the local mall to talk to Officer Kurosawa. He had been most helpful and did not seem to mind dealing with someone of her own age group at all. He accepted her professional insights and was a pleasure to work with. She briefly wondered if he could consider assisting her in another prefecture and move along the Inaba case.

She was barely inside Paulownia Mall, when she already felt the low thumping of music playing in Club Escapade. Seeing that the station was already closed up for today, she changed her plans and entered the club.

By a stroke of luck not a single other student from the school trip was present. Allowing herself a smile, Naoto went to the bar and hopped on a stool. Running her gaze over the bottles along the wall, she frowned a little. She beckoned to the man minding the counter. "Excuse me, do you serve anything non-alcoholic?"

The barkeeper turned to her and nodded. "Serve nothin' else these days. We had a lot of issues with drunk drivers not long ago, so most of the clubs and bars here agreed to remove alcohol from the menu, including us and the karaoke place across. If you wanna get wasted, you'll need to go into the town center, though I doubt they'd let you into licensed premises."

She ignored the comment pointed at her age. "A very forward-thinking decision to make. Has your business suffered from this at all?"

"Actually, no. Folks still come here to have fun and dance and hang out in the back rooms, y'see? So now we offer more snacks and food. We also changed to make non-alcoholic cocktails and stuff. People love it. They can have a good time while stayin' safe. Mind, some people just wanna go get drunk. They can go do that somewhere where they don' need to drive."

She smiled. "Sounds perfect to me. Would you mix me one of these new cocktails, please?"

"Gotcha, buddy, I'll be right back."

The smile melted from her lips and she turned to watch the dance floor. For a Friday night, it was pretty tame still. Most patrons would possibly arrive later in the night and stay till morning.

"Here it is! Tell me how ya like it, man."

She turned back and picked up the tumbler. The liquid in it looked vaguely like whiskey, but the first sip let her know it was a non-carbonated ginger ale… and something else. Bitter. "Interesting."

"It's a Stormy Monday. Too strong for ya?"

"I was not expecting the bitterness. But I think I will enjoy this. Thank you."

"You bet. I'll be back there if you need somethin'." He turned and walked back along the bar to some other customers and leaned on the counter to chat with them.

Naoto stared in her glass for a long while.

Grampa had asked her to not think about the Inaba case while out here. It is why he even agreed to provide her with the three case files she had with her. According to him, she should enjoy the 'experience' of being a student on a field trip. Her consciousness did not work that way. She needed to feel busy, needed to feel engaged. She had worked off the cases she brought along and emailed him earlier in the day already. Now that her attention was without immediate focus, she could not help thinking about the work still ahead of her once she returned.

She swirled the tumbler slowly, listening to the clear ice cubes plink against the glass.

How would she get into the social circles she needed to be in? Approaching Tatsumi seemed the most logical thing to do. They had previous dealings and he would be the least suspicious if she were to approach him. He also had a certain restlessness she found could be easily manipulated, should the need arise.

How did one get introduced into bigger social circles? She frowned into her glass and started to sip.

"Hey, it's him!"

She froze. A young, male voice. And a familiar one, too. She looked up and turned to her left.  _Speak of the devil… or even think of him._  "My, I never expected to run into you at this locale. Is it permitted for high school students such as yourselves to be here?" She turned on her stool, moving the tumbler into her right hand.

She ran her eyes over the group of students. The very people she had just been thinking of were all here. Kujikawa, Satonaka, and Amagi up front. Hanamura and Narukami brought up the rear. All of them were still in their school uniforms. It took her a few moments to notice Kanji Tatsumi lurking behind them in the shadows. He was… not in uniform.  _A tank top. With a... Flaming skull. Huh._

Hanamura-senpai, easily flustered as always, replied first. "Wh-What!? Dude, look who's talking! You were here before we were!" He frowned for a moment. "But why are … Oh. That's right...I guess if the first-years came on the trip, you'd be here too..."

"Yes, senpai, we do attend the same school and are indeed on the same excursion." She tried to speak in her practiced, level tone, ignoring the slow rise of indignation. Hanamura managed to find all the wrong buttons to push. And from what she had seen when observing him, he had an uncanny talent for upsetting even his friends.

She gestured with an open hand towards the club in general. "The clientele here seems above-board, so I don't expect there'll be any problems." She hesitated a moment and glanced at the counter before her. "It's not as if I was otherwise preoccupied."

On one hand, this would be a great opportunity to get herself involved with this group. She could 'hang out', examine the group dynamic better, and learn how the internal social structure and ranking is laid.

On the other… she had no indication how one actually invited oneself into any social structure. Up until this case, integrating herself had never been part of any ongoing investigation and she was woefully underprepared on the subject matter of 'making friends', even in a pretended fashion.

It was the girls of this group who solved her dilemma in an unexpected fashion. Amagi-senpai gave her a warm smile and stepped forward. "Why don't you join us?"

"Are you...asking me to stay?" While fortuitous, this was way faster than she was actually prepared for. She had not readied herself; had no questions prepared; had not yet found the basic socially accepted processes in this group…

Amagi simply smiled. "Uh-huh. We didn't get to chat last time."

A rebuke. Even if a polite one, she had already made mistakes. How could she find a way into this group if mistakes had already shaded her image negatively? "Ah...I...I-It's just that I had some matters to attend to that day."

"Well, you're free now, right? You just said so yourself and you look so bored! I was really eager to talk to you. I'm curious how someone my age is working as a detective!" Bubbly and enthusiastic, Kujikawa skipped forward. And stopped way too close in front of Naoto, who leaned back slowly.

"How about it?" Amagi gave her an expectant look.

Naoto glanced at her drink. At the bottles on the shelf behind the bar. At the floor. Her mind tried to keep up with everything around her. The curiosity in the eyes of the teens in front of her; her own expectations; her need to mesh with them to further her own needs… All of this combined with the loud thumping of the music seemed to slow her through process to the speed of freezing honey.

"Hmmm...Very well, if you insist." She mumbled.

"Huh? What's up?" Hanamura-senpai cupped a hand behind his ears.

"I think I would like that." Naoto repeated louder, followed by a long swig of her drink.

"Heh. You sure? You look a little red..." He gave the detective a sly wink.

"Th-That's not true!" Roughly her hand grabbed her cap and tugged it down.

She picked up her glass and slid off the bar stool, hopping to the ground lightly. She heard Kujikawa skip off to get a VIP room reserved, while noticing Hanamura-senpai turn to Tatsumi and talking quietly to him. She saw him glance over to the bar a moment, then spinning back and staring hard at the dance floor. Seeing how he was dressed, he might have preferred to actually dance over simply sitting in a VIP area. Well. Nothing would keep him if he wanted some more excitement. She was sure he could get his enjoyment from the evening just as much.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just how could anyone get 'drunk on the atmosphere'?  
> Why would friends seemingly ignore possible serious injury to one of their own?  
> And how can one feel at ease with someone while at the same time experiencing a certain nervous tension around them?

_Okay, Shirogane, be careful what you wish upon people, because you may have jinxed Tatsumi._

The evening so far was not to her linking, really. She had no idea how to introduce herself into the conversation, as the topics seemed too flimsy to even try and contribute. She had been ushered to sit with Satonaka-senpai and Kujikawa-san. The latter of which kept trying to wrap herself all over Naoto. By now, she did not know what to do except physically pushing her co-student aside. Or maybe handcuffing her to the nearest table.

Several of the group seemed openly uncomfortable by the bizarre behavior of their friends as well. Both Satonaka and Hanamura groaned at the suggestion of playing the 'King's Game'. Naoto was familiar with it, thankfully, as the explanations that Kujikawa and Amagi gave were lacking.

And the first round already seemed to be problematic, when Teddie plucked the red-marked chopsticks from the glass.

Focusing on the game and not having picked a pair herself – she wanted to observe the group before involving herself in their games – she simply leaned back and watched as the demand for a kiss was made. It seemed Kanji Tatsumi was the unlucky participant.

While she had no idea whatsoever why the slender blonde boy had hinted at a romantic interest Tatsumi might habour for him (was 'being after my fuzzy fur' some kind of code?); the tackle seemed unnecessary. Not only that, but she jumped up when she head the crash of Tatsumi colliding hard with a nearby table, going under in a jumble of said table, glasses, chairs and Teddie-san.

Hanamura-senpai, Amagi-senpai and Kujikawa-san doubled over laughing.

Satonaka-senpai and Narukami-senpai simply got up and pulled Teddie-san off Tatsumi. He still tried to cling to the teen, making  _kissie-sounds_  at him and complaining loudly that the King had not yet gotten his wish. He struggled free once and pressed his lips hard on Tatsumi's face before they finally managed to pull him away.

" _Jeez_ , Teddie! You're such an idiot sometimes!" Satonaka complained loudly.

"Enough, Ted!" Narukami held him back, pulling him to the couch.

Why was no one concerned for Tatsumi-san? He had gone down hard and he might actually have hurt himself. Yet between laughter and fussing over Teddie, no one paid him any attention.

Naoto frowned. Out of all of the ones present, Tatsumi was the most familiar to her and she would not accept him carrying possibly serious injuries due to the negligence of his peers. She squeezed past Kujikawa, dodging her hands grasping at her hips; hopped over the legs of a still-laughing Hanamura and approached Tatsumi.

"Fuh… fuzzy fur!" That wheeze sounded like Amagi behind her.

Naoto strode up to the prone teen and kneeled beside Tatsumi. "Are you injured?"

Tatsumi tried to sit up, seemingly flustered and confused. Failing that, he tried to roll on his side and push himself up on all fours – which he also failed, simply ending up scrabbling at the floor tiles. "No!" his voice hitched to a strained high pitch, "No! I'm fine!"

' _Fine'_  was not failing to coordinate ones' movements. ' _Fine'_  also was not being unable to simply move into a seated position. And ' _fine'_ , she concluded, did not include what looked like a trickle of blood forming over his right temple. She reached forward to check if she saw correctly.

"Uh, s'okay. I-I'm fine."

She simply pressed her lips together and continued moving forward, her hand connecting with his temple, trying to run her hands through his hair. There was no cut visiable on his skin, so it would be behind his hairline.

He jerked back sharply. "Whoa, whoa! N-Naoto, what're -"

She froze where she was, kneeling, her hand outstretched and sighed. "I would think that was obvious."

His eyes looked slightly larger. She saw how he paled, too, the coloured lights all around them flashing brighter across his face. "You can't - seriously, man, not here!"

Naoto glanced around the club and the many light flickering and reflecting from mirrored surfaces. The provided illumination would indeed make it hard to see enough. He had a point. "...You are right." Biting the corner of her lip, she pondered where a better source of light could be found. The mall was not well lit during the late hours and even at the bar the lighting was flashing in different shades of darker colours. There was really only one place where she could expect to find any kind of steady lighting. "The restroom, then."

"R-R-Restroom?" His stammer had returned.

Not a good sign, really, he could still be seriously injured. And his complexion seemed nearing white now, blood draining from his face.

Time was wasting, and she worried he would faint any moment. She nodded brusquely and encouraged Tatsumi to get on his feet. His  _friends_  still had made no move to assist him. Or her. No one came to offer helping Tatsumi to his feet or worry about him. Her previous thought of him not being fully integrated into the group resurfaced. Maybe he simply was not yet trusted enough to be someone they would feel concern over.

She urged him down the stairs, across the dance floor and towards the restrooms. Pulling him inside, her eyes adjusted to the steady, white lighting of neon bulbs above them. "Much better," Naoto said, staring up at the ceiling lights with a hand on her hip. "I'll be able to investigate more closely."

She heard him swallow hard and turned to face him. Was he feeling sick? "So - uh -wh-what do we -"

Looking up for a moment she considered trying to reach up, but her dignity balked at the thought. Naoto pointed at the floor. "Kneel down, please."

Tatsumi blinked.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "On the floor, Tatsumi?"

"Y-you want me to go first?" he choked out. "But I've never..."

 _Never_ …? He had a scar from an old head wound. Clearly that 'never' was either not connected to "I've never had a head injury before", or he was grasping for a way out of the examination still. Tatsumi clearly underestimated his potential injury as well. Were all her peer so careless and foolish? The lack of concern was either gross under-estimation… or an indicator of how serious he was injured.

"Tatsumi." She gazed up and him, forcing her tone to stay as neutral as she possibly could. This wasn't the time to try and bully him. "There is blood on your forehead. So, yes, I would need you to kneel down first. I cannot check the severity of your injury if you do not kneel on the floor." She turned away and glared at the sink. "I am…" Saying it set her teeth on edge. "I am considerably shorter than you."

Tatsumi's hand flew to his forehead. He stared at the red smear his hand came away with and his knees seemed to give way under him. "Uh. Okay. H-here."

She turned and nodded at him. "Thank you. I believe the damage is minor, but all head wounds should be taken seriously."

She walked up to him, tilting his head back. Holding his head steady, a hand gently cupping each cheek, she moved to stand over him, blocking the light from above. Watching his eyes closely, she shifted her weight slowly from side to side; letting the light from above shine directly into one eye, then the other. The pupils constricted normally against the bright lights and relaxed normally when her head cast a shadow on him. His earlier paleness had vanished but now was being replaced at alarming rate with redness. "You are flushed. Do you feel sick or dizzy?"

"N-no. M'good."

Naoto hummed. Very gently she tilted his head forward and ran her fingers along the small gash just behind his hairline. The cut appeared minor after all and she found no swelling of any of the surrounding tissue aside from what the cut had caused. Pulling a handkerchief from her pocket with one hand, she began dabbing at the cut. "You should apply antiseptic when we return to the hotel."

Tatsumi nodded mutely.

She continued to gaze at the cut, very gently moving her kerchief along the cut, applying regular, even pressure. If she frowned, it was simply because of the thoughts going through her head. Why had his peers not taken any interest in his injury? Had they all missed the blood droplet forming? Why the fixation on the other boy? Was he younger than them? Or was it perhaps his image as a tough guy that led them to ignore a possible injury? He did have a matching scar on the side of his head already. Maybe they felt he would not appreciate them noticing his injury? But even with all of this in mind, letting any friend carry any injury was not-

"So, uh - d'you like Yukiko-senpai?"

Naoto stopped. "...What?"

Tatsumi found his voice once more after a moment. "Yukiko Amagi. Y-y'think she's cute?"

That was a sudden change in topic. She tried to peer into his eyes again, but he avoided looking up at her. She shook her head and gently turned his head sideways again, re-applying pressure to the cut. "I really wouldn't know. I have no interest in such things."

"Not - even a little bit?"

"My work leaves little time for entanglements." Her voice took a cold edge. That was part of tonight's' problem as well. Maybe her peers would have simply ignored the injury. Maybe she had missed all social queues already by looking after Tatsumi and ensuring he was all right. How could someone, who could not even make time for friends possibly consider anything else? "But why did you ask? Are you pursuing Amagi-senpai?" Had she missed this in her observations so far?

"N-no! No way! Just, guys go for her, that's all!"

She hesitated and looked down at him, then looked up and stared into nothinness for a few moments. She conjured up a mental image of the young Amagi she had observed in town and at school so far. Demure, polite, finely limbed Amagi-senpai. She could see it. The long, black hair, the way she moved. "Oh." Yes, she could see it in her minds' eye now. The very image of a future girlfriend and wife. "I - suppose they must."

Kanji swallowed loud enough for her to hear. "But not me. I don't."

Not that it mattered much if Tatsumi did or did not. It had no impact onto her investigation. Well, maybe a small possible impact. If he had a romantic interest, finding time with him for further interviews might need more planning.

Naoto finally pulled her handkerchief away without any fresh blood strains. "The cut has stopped bleeding," she said, stepping back. She placed her hand on her hip again. "I suggest you show more caution in future."

"Wasn't my fault, man! It's Teddie, he was-"

The restroom door swung open and banged into the wall. Strutting into the room, wearing a huge smirk, was Yosuke Hanamura. He stood and crossed his arms, looking from her to Tatsumi and back again.

"Wow, Naoto-kun. You're eager." Naoto grunted.  _Shirogane-san_. Just once? Could they behave like adults  _just_   _once_?

Hanamura-senpai turned to Tatsumi, still smirking. "First Teddie, now Naoto - you're a lucky guy, Kanji!"

She creased her forehead in a small frown. Now suddenly they got worried? "Well, yes, he appears to have suffered no permanent damage, but..." How long had they been gone? Had it taken a long time for the bleeding to stop? Maybe she should check once more if there was noticeable swelling. If they had been here for longer than perhaps 10 minutes-

Hanamura giggled. "I mean, dragging another guy into the restroom at a nightclub... just, wow, you know?"

What on earth was he babbling about? Had it not been clear that they had been unable to see in the flashing, coloured lights upstairs? Of course she had to take him somewhere else and… and… And she was posing as a male. Taking another male into the restroom of a club. To be secluded. Without explaining her motive. "Oh.  _Oh_." Hanamura- He thought… They were under the impression that-

"It - it ain't like that, okay?" Tatsumi stammered, trying to get to his feet again.

Naoto took two long, quick steps backwards, bumping against the sink. "No, it really, really - Hanamura-senpai, I was just - Tatsumi might have been injured, and-" Why did he imply-? What kind of infantile nonsense was this? At least she had cared enough to investigate the injury and- "I-I will be outside," she muttered, and marched out the bathroom door.

* * *

"Where's Shenpai? He's...so aweshome!" Naoto winced slightly at the squeal that came from Kujikawa. Her voice in general wasn't overly pleasant, but when she was exhilarated, it seemed she could pierce ear drums without even trying.

"I told you already, he's takin' back Teddie and Yukiko-senpai," Tatsumi muttered. "'Cause you're all idiots."

Naoto would agree with his assessment.

The rest of the evening had turned into a waste of time. When they left the club, Tatsumi had taken on Kujikawa, hoisting her to his back and carrying her through the night-darkened streets. Smuggling her into the hotel without waking up every single soul was going to be more excitement than she had signed up for.

This night had turned out all kinds of more than she signed up for in some regards, while being so much less than she had hoped for. Naoto sighed.

Tatsumi turned his head and looked down at her. "Hey...you okay, man?"

She nodded, without looking up.

After she had returned, taking her seat besides Kujikawa (unthinking, she should have realized she'd spend the next thirty minutes fending her advances off again) and enduring more implications of two young men hiding in a public restroom, she had been roped into their foolish game. The thought that she could perhaps use it to start tapping into more information crossed her mind, so she played along. Only to be mocked and lied to.

The whole playing-at-being-drunk might actually also be part of the foolishness that followed. Entering television sets. Fighting monsters. The classic "teenagers save the world"-scenario. They couldn't come up with anything better than that?

Kujikawa twisted against Tatsumi's back. Her hands grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, prompting a non-verbal complaint from the tall blonde. "Aw...ish Naoto-kun down?"

But as obviously a false trail as this was, why would they spin such a story? Had they somehow created this entire night as a way to mislead her? Why would they simply mock her like this? It was suspicious. It was almost as if they wanted to muddy the waters while she meant to follow them.

"I am fine." she quipped.

"I got shomething to make you feel better!" Kujikawa apparently tried to drop her voice to a whisper. It came out close to a high-pitched squeak. "I know a secret. Yoshuke-shenpai told me."

Naoto sighed and tucked her cap down. "If it is similar to Yukiko-senpai's, I am not interested."

"No, no! It's a gooood one, I promish," the former idol slurred, ending with a giggle that turned into a hiccup. "Kanji-kun likes- -"

Tatsumi jolted her, skipping a few steps and hopping, bouncing her hard on his back. "I d-don't like anything! Shut your mouth!"

Naoto glanced sideways at the other two first-years and frowned. Again, a possibly-see-through lie? But this time Tatsumi interfered. Why? Did he want to stop the lies? Was he actually on her side somehow after all?

She pinched her eyes shut when Kujikawa squeaked happily once more.

Would they end the night being expelled?

"As discussed earlier," Naoto said, with a small shake of her head, "we should take care to avoid the faculty on our arrival at the hotel. It will be very difficult to convince them that Rise-san is not truly inebriated."

Tatsumi gave her a startled look. "You...you were serious? About the bar not serving alcohol?"

"You drank the same as me, Hanamura… and everyone else. You feel okay, do you not?"

"Uh, well, y-yeah…"

"I have no idea what idiocy is affecting your friends," Naoto muttered darkly.

He sighed. "Beats me, man." .

* * *

Her patience had run dry about two hours earlier. She was tired, she was annoyed and she  _did not_ need Rise Kujikawa on her, groping at her while trying to get up off of her.

"Sh-shorry, Naoto-kun," she mumbled, scrabbling at the floor and Naoto, trying to push herself up.

The detective squirmed, trying to dodge the groping hands. "Kuh-Kujikawa-san, please remove yourself from-"

"Okay, Rise, bedtime!" Satonaka, who had appeared to help them deposit their possibly-drunk encumbrance into her room, slipped her hands under the other girl's arms and yanked her to her feet. "You've given these guys enough trouble for one night."

"Aw, Chie-shenpai, I gotta 'pologize to Naoto-kun!"

"No need," muttered Naoto, as she pulled himself into a sitting position. She lifted her hand to tuck down her cap, found it missing, and cast a panicked look about the blue-and-purple lit hallway.

Tatsumi bend towards her, offering a hand. "Uh...you okay?"

"Fine," Naoto said, cheeks flushed pink, pointedly not taking the proffered hand. She pointed at Kujikawa's feet. "P-pass me my cap, please."

She heard the two girls bustle into their room, the door snapping shut behind them, while she took her cap from the blonde teen and scrambled to her feet quickly.

Not at all the success story she had envisioned this night could become. Kujikawa's hands had been pressed squarely against her chest once. If she had been of clearer mind, she could have easily realized that the taut feeling under her hands were not pectorals. Add to that the lies they had tried to feed her.

All of it fed the detective's sudden worry that there could very well be more than one teenaged murderer in Inaba.

"Uh. Th-Thanks for helpin' bring her back." Tatsumi stared at the floor, casting only the briefest of glances at her.

She looked up at the blonde for a moment and nodded stiffly. He still had been polite. She had no reason to let her mood impact her communication with him. She looked back towards the floor herself. "You should return to your room now. You are sharing with Hanamura-senpai, Narukame-senpai and your friend Teddie, correct?" Teddie. Who was not a student. And so far, all students rooming together were of the same classes. But not these three. Four now. "How did you engineer that?" she asked, glancing at him.

The youth stiffened a moment. "T-the other guy they were sharing with dropped out last minute. So I figured it'd be okay. And Ted, he-he's just visiting, it's not like-"

She held out the palms of her hands. "Do not worry. I will not inform the faculty members." Naoto let out a long breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "But you must understand, it seems suspicious that you are all-" She stopped short and raised her head to look Tatsumi in the eye. He  _had_  been helpful. And he seemed to actually be different from the other teens. She could not afford to close that door; lose this one possible ally she had. Or clue him in on her new suspicions. "I apologize, Tatsumi-san. I am tired."

"You goin' back to your room too?"

"Later. I must ensure my roommates are asleep." Going to sleep with her bindings was a problem in itself. She had to ensure that she slipped into bed without them seeing her,  _and_  that she would get up before them.

"You, uh, you want some company?"

Naoto shook her head. "No."  _I'm sorry, Tatsumi, but I have more to think of now, than I had when I started this evening._

"Oh. Right." He shuffled his feet, as if turning to leave, hesitating, and then wanting to move again. "Well...g'night."

With a quick nod, Naoto turned to move away. She had only taken a few couple of steps, when she heard him clear his throat.

"Yo, Naoto...uh, wait a sec." Tatsumi called out

Naoto glanced back, one eyebrow arched. "Hmm?"

"That, that stuff you were saying back at the club. 'Bout your family and being a detective." He paused. "I-I thought it was cool."

 _Cool_. Naoto looked at him for a long moment, trying to find out where that had come from. It seemed out of place, for the situation, for the content of her narrative, for the time of night. However, it did seem what she had grown to understand as ' _classic Tatsumi'_. His social awkwardness combined with her own made a strange mixture at times. She sighed quietly, deciding to take his comment as an offering of solidarity. "I appreciate your sentiment. I wasn't sure what else to say. I have no talent for jokes or anecdotes."

"S'okay. Y-you were just tryin' to make friends, right?"

She tensed up at the word. "No. I am in Inaba solely to solve a murder case." This was not for the social entanglement that came with friendships. This was information gathering. It was almost akin to espionage. She squared up in the hallway and turned to fully face him. "And I know you and your colleagues are somehow involved. I simply thought that if I... if I was honest with you all, perhaps you would..." Her words trailed off.

 _What am I doing? I am being careless. Foolish_. She wasn't sure about her feeling concerning Tatsumi yet. He might still be an ally. But right now, there was simply no knowing and she should not rope him in to her plans just yet. "As I said, I am tired. I will see you tomorrow."

Not sure she could trust herself to stop her exposition a third time, she turned to the stairway and headed towards the lobby.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip may have been fun and relaxation for some, but for Naoto it only brought more questions. The teens seem to be involved in a far deeper and possibly a more sinister way than she assumed.  
> But after the trip and spending more time with them, investigating some of the teens makes her professionalism clash with very unprofessional feelings of general affection.

**September 11th, 2011**

Naoto woke an hour before dawn the day after their excursion.

Considering the state of her bed - a pillow on the floor; one pillow crumpled behind her; her sheets and blankets tangled - she must have had very animate dreams. However, as she blankly stared at the ceiling, she could not remember a single moment or image of what her night had brought.  _Possibly for the better._

She slowly pushed herself up into a seated position, running her hands over her face and through her hair. Her still-packed bag was discarded by the bedroom door. Her clothes strewn carelessly between door and bed. She had barely pulled on her pajama top before crawling into bed.

They had not arrived that late yesterday, but she felt drained and exhausted after entering her apartment. Frankly, she still did.

Her rooms were still in the same unruly state they had been in before she left on her trip. Clothing, papers, files on disk, discarded food wrappers – everything was a jumble. But at least she had not slept in her clothing, and even made it to her own bed instead of passing out on the couch again.

Most of yesterday, when she had the time to herself and wasn't being dragged about by Kujikawa-san, she spent pondering. The biggest question to solve right now: Could the murderer come from this group of teens; and if so, who was the originator and who was a follower?

With an exhausted sigh, she pulled herself from her bed and put on the missing pajama piece. Picking a patch around the disorder in her rooms, she made her way to the kitchen to salvage a Mad Bull from the fridge.  _Down to three cans now. Shopping may be a necessity soon_.

Turning back to her living room, she opened her can. And stopped.

Naoto still refused to call it a  _mess_ , but… well. All available surfaces were covered in files and copies, maps and pictures. The floor. The table. It had even started to creep into her shelves. Anywhere she looked, things seemed to pile up without any sense or order, but in truth, she had a very specific structure in all of this. She  _did_. For her new theory she would need a new space to start.

She drank, then thoughtfully caught the corner of her lower lip between her teeth.  _Over there, by the wall near the hallway._

She stepped over copies, pulled her foot through a stack of files to move them away a bit and made enough space to sit down. She pulled a note pad and pen from a neighboring sheaf of papers and lowered herself into sitting cross-legged. After another sip from her can, she started to catch her thoughts on paper as they stampeded through her brain.

_Amagi. Had access to first victim. Attended school with second victim. Quiet. Composed. Well-mannered._

She scratched her neck with the back of the pen.

_Hanamura. Supervisor of Konishi. Goes to class with Amagi. No known contact to first victim._

After a moment's thought, she connected the two with a line.

_Satonaka. Inseparable from / close friend of Amagi. Very fit, possibly high physical prowess. Executive of the plot? Attends school with Hanamura and Amagi._

Another line was drawn, from Satonaka to Amagi. Then she continued to connect Satonaka and Hanamura.

_Narukami. Transfer student. Nephew of Dojima-san. Most likely to have known the announcer Yamano from television. Considerable if we go by 'foreign element'-theory. Attends school with H A and S_

More lines were added, linking the four cluters.

She pulled a line to divide the paper up in two halves and went on.

_Tatsumi. Very fit. Appears easily bullied or swayed by others. Volatile temperament. Could be cohered or could have lost temper. Known to Konishi family. Befriended? Access to second victim?_

She tapped the paper with her pen before hesitantly starting to draw a line, stopping after a moment and removing her pen from the paper again.

_Kujikawa._

Naoto laid her pen on the pad and frowned. Neither Tatsumi nor Kujikawa seemed directly involved in this. And the youth-icon only appeared in Inaba after the murders. She could not be directly involved. None of the previous investigations had turned up any connection bringing her into the picture. Adding her now was preposterous.

She drew a line through Kujikawa.

_Teddy. Unknown factor._

No background. No police records. And he, too, had only recently started showing up. After a moment's hesitation, she crossed out his name, too.

She picked up the can and drank slowly, looking at her notes. Haltingly she added  _Kubo_  to the lower part of the paper.

_Kubo. Different high school. Apparently not in the circle of friends from YH. Unknown connection to the teens. Teens were present at Kubo's arrest, however. Framed?_

She should find out if there was any further connection between these students. So far, she had not tried to investigate into Kubo's friends, providing he had any.

Her eyes wandered over the paper, back to the entry about Tatsumi.

Kanji Tatsumi. She could not picture him actually harming a woman. He was rough and loud and had a quick temper. But in each encounter with him, he seemed quiet and almost shy. However, simply discarding him based on a mere faint feeling of esteem towards the youth was a poor investigative approach.

Still, that intuitive feeling remained. If he was involved… he would have been made a tool by someone else.

Who would this someone else be? She picked up the pen again and tapped it on the note pad. Well, she saw Satonaka and Amagi visit him more than once. Further, Amagi was known to the Tatsumi family and quite possibly a regular customer herself. He also had brought her up while she inspected his cut scalp, so she must be on his mind for one reason or another.

With a sigh, she quickly drew a line between Tatsumi and Amagi.

From what Naoto had seen so far, Satonaka seemed to have a very protective stance towards Amagi. If something had happened to put Amagi into a compromised position, she would have taken action.  _So that leaves me with… Hm. Narukami._

She raked her brain for anything at all that she could add to his side of the scales to make him a viable subject. But he had arrived only shortly before the first murder, had no access to the victims beforehand and was likely to be under supervision during his first fortnight while living with his uncle.

Naoto crossed out Narukami.

She got back on her feet and dodged some more piles of papers on her way towards the bathroom. Draining the Mad Bull and tossing it carelessly into the trashcan there, she turned on the shower. She still felt edgy and restless. Maybe a quick shower would help get her thoughts on the correct route.

* * *

When the shower did not have the desired effect, Naoto got dressed and went out to wander the slowly waking town for a bit.

Naoto enjoyed high places. The view overlooking an area one gets from them, such as when climbing on a tree, was the absolute of the meaning 'changing perspective' to her. It helped her think, and as such she located the nearest rise over Inaba and started to stroll up. The sun had yet to come up behind the mountains as she left her apartment and she cool morning air had the delicate tang of early fall to it.

Her thoughts were still on her new theory. Was the true murderer one of the teens here in Inaba?

She was certain that she had narrowed it down to the correct names. Either one of the three; Amagi, Satonaka or Tatsumi; could be the perpetrator, or be involved in knowledge of the crime. Or, indeed, all three were somehow involved.

 _Scenario_. Amagi wishes to harm Yamano. She ensures the opportunity and security of the place where the deed can be done. And in doing so somehow manages to escape the police. This gives Satonaka an opening to-

No. The police reports on her and her interviews showed nothing that would allow for that line of reasoning. Further, there was no motive.

Lifting her eyes from the sidewalk, she gazed to the mountains bordering the town on the far side of her hill. The sun had still not capped the peaks. She pulled up the collar of her shirt and turned towards the stairs leading up to the lookout point.

 _Scenario_. Amagi voices a complaint or concern to Satonaka. Satonaka, seemingly uninvolved and thus not under observation by the police, secures Yamano and strikes at first opportunity. Being unable to arrange the near-ritualistic location of the body, she brings in Tatsumi to finalize-

No. No traces of any one, much less two people were found at the site. At least according to the records provided by the Inaba police. She still had her doubts that this had been recorded properly. If Adachi had been in charge of this, no one was likely to ever know. Further, the Amagi Inn had been quite busy before the murder. Assaulting Yamano there would cause some form of commentary.

She wandered on, eyeing the gazebo at the hill top and realizing she was headed towards it. Ignoring the gazebo to instead stand by the fence surrounded the hilltop; Naoto pushed her cap back and leaned lightly against the fence surrounding the site.

 _Scenario_. Amagi finds compromising evidence of further the ongoing scandal while working at the inn. She and Satonaka try their hands at blackmail; fail, and have to scramble to resolve the matter. As they move the body, they are seen by Konishi, and they bring in Tatsumi to…

 _No, no, no._  This also fails on the point of no traces.

Naoto frowned, leaning heavily against the fence. She also still could not shake the feeling that Tatsumi had nothing to do with this. But why she felt that way, she could not say. She had no proof that could be used to provide Tatsumi with an alibi – yet. She intended to search each of the three she singled out for motives, police records, and possible favorable circumstances they could have used.

She just had this … vague perception that Tatsumi simply was not the kind of person to be involved in this. As much as she hated to think in generalized terms; maybe that police officer a few months ago was correct. Tatsumi was no killer. He was a loudmouth, he was brash, and he had a temper if provoked. But he did not appear violent or unhinged enough to murder anyone.

His police records also do not indicate such dangerous behavior during previous encounters or any cautions that they would expect it in the future.

This meant her investigation should start with Satonaka. So far both she herself and the police had ignored the teen, so this could be the piece that had been missing from the overall depiction of the case; the element she had been hunting for in the last months.

All of this had started when she asked for help – but was hindered by the very people she had wanted to recruit into assisting her. Each encounter that resulted in their dismissal of her questions; every talk that turned into an attempt to attack her instead. They added up in her mind to a very guilty conscience. The desperate attempt to hide something from her.

But they had since done worse. They had mocked her. She was even more convinced now then she was two nights ago, that 'being drunk' was an act put on by the teens involved, too.

Emerging from her reflections, she heard steps crunch to a halt and turned her head. Tatsumi. Had he followed her? Was this where her estimation of him would be proven wrong after all?

 _Wonderful, Shirogane. Paranoid now, too? It's the same hesitant teen you bid fare-well at the station yesterday afternoon, after convincing him you'd manage quite well to return to your residence on your own._  Not only that, she was very aware of her surroundings at all times. When she had arrived here, there was no one else. All along the way here she had been alone. He had simply chosen to appear here.

"Tatsumi," she said with a nod.

"Uh...hey." While he had appeared like he wanted to walk away again immediately, he slowly came closer, stopping some five meters from her. He slid his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders against a brief breeze. "You... uh, enjoying the weather?" He sounded helpless as he asked. No wonder, the sky was hung thick with grey clouds. The only reason she knew the sun had passed the mountain range was that now the clouds looked a little brighter.

 _The weather, apotheosis of a failing attempt at small talk._  She turned back to look over the town. "Not particularly."

He looked up into the clouds. "Oh. Right."

She  _wanted_  to be more cordial with Tatsumi. He seemed like her best chance at finding a way out of this whole situation; the one to provide the last missing puzzle stones. But how deeply was he in league with the others? And how much could she trust him, if he really was involved?

"That trip was kinda neat, right?" he said quietly.

Naoto considered another honest answer to this one, but shifted forward to lean ponderously against the fence instead. She directed her frown at the Samagawa valley. Inaba was quiet at this time of morning. She saw few cars, heard nearly no noise carry through the dale up to the hill.

She fought a sudden surge of bitterness. Right here was the one person she had hoped to engage with to help her solve the Inaba case; an insider who could have cleared the situation up for her. But he, too, had proven unhelpful. In a mix of awkward and unhelpful, none of the teens she had encountered so far seemed to actually want to solve anything. And despite the outburst of both Hanamura and Kujikawa, she only saw a group of regular teens, playing foolish games. She saw no 'investigation team' in action; she saw no drive to solve anything. Only children playing at being involved in the world of adults.

Suddenly, Tatsumi had one of his random outbursts.

"Dammit, why're you-" She tensed a moment, readying herself against what the shift in temperament would bring. But the moment he snapped, his mouth clicked shut again. She didn't move to look at him and was rewarded for waiting out the storm of his emotions when he subsequently muttered "What's wrong?"

 _What's wrong, Tatsumi, is you. What's wrong is your group of friends. What's wrong is, in fact, everything._  She scowled at the thoughts that formed as an immediate reply and thanked her tongue for holding that counter back.

When Naoto had collected herself enough to reply, her voice was flat and quiet. Tired, too, if she were honest with herself. "None of you are willing to help."

She head him shift, as if he wanted to step forward. "Help with what?"

She ignored his question. " _Nor_  are you willing to be honest. If you were-" She shook her head, and tugged at the collar of her carefully tailored shirt. "Personas, shadows, televisions. Diversionary nonsense."

She pulled at her cap, bringing the brim further down still. She had arrived in the Yasogami prefecture with one goal in mind. Assist in solving a murder case. Possibly also further preventing harm to the people living in this town. And below them lay that city. Peaceful, quiet Inaba. Where the police were focused on bringing in any suspect at all, so long as they could pin the problem on them. A scapegoat which could allow the true murderer to escape justice.

And with her… one of the other group who were trying to prevent her from this goal. These children did not fully grasp the gravity of this situation. It possibly went back to them thinking this was a game, despite their protests regarding that observation several weeks ago.

Both she and Tatsumi had seemed lost in their own thoughts for a while. He had his lips pressed together, staring at the ground, at her, at the gazebo. He sounded unsure when he replied finally. "It - it ain't like that, Naoto."

No denial from him. But no confirmation of facts, either. Was this enough to try and recruit his help, maybe one last time?

"Tatsumi-san." Naoto still could not look at him. She needed to get an endorsement to her gut feeling first and could not afford the distraction of seeing his reaction to her question. Her instincts rebelled at the thought that he was embroiled in her grim theories. She wanted him to be her key, wanted him to be trustworthy. But wishes made for poor proof.

She leaned back a bit, her hands tightly around the top bar of the fence. "What is your involvement in this matter?"

The reply came quickly, but thickly paired with his typical nervous tell. "N-Nothing. Yukiko-senpai, she, she was just messin' around. You saw how she was."

She let go of the rail with one of her hands and turned her upper body to face him. Her eyes bored into his. Generally silence was an effective weapon against Kanji Tatsumi, and she deployed it without hesitation once more against him. For a long moment, she just stared at him, willing him to speak; her gaze alone trying to demand of him to open up; confess; free himself from the shadow of doubt.

_Anything. Help me understand you. Help me believe in you._

But this time, aside from helplessness in his eyes, he held his counsel.

She turned away again in silence, resting her elbows on the fence.

"Look, Naoto - if y'need help with something - then I can, yeah? Just...not about this."

 _Not about this._ Which this? He knew and she knew. They spoke of the same thing. And yet he would not acknowledge further information on the matter.

She had no choice. She would need to re-check his alibi alongside Amagi and Satonaka. She also would need to surrender her hope that he was an ally. He did not behave like one. At best, he was not opposing her, and that was as good as it got. It was not enough to re-embrace him as an accomplice in her investigation.

As her one last chance to not be alone in her efforts.

"I want to believe you are not-" She started to speak to him, but when she turned to face him, he was already gone.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obsession turning into Action.
> 
> After not getting the assistance she had hoped for from Tatsumi, she attempts one last desperate push for information. And in doing so devises a plan that might bring her into the line of fire.

**September 12th, 2011 - Afternoon**

Naoto returned to the police station shortly after her encounter with Tatsumi.

A slow, hot irritation had boiled inside of her since she found he had quietly left the hilltop. How far could she trust him? How far could she trust any of the other teens? How far  _should_  she trust any of them?

She waited impatiently as her privileges were cross-checked by the Sargent on duty. The prefecture had not pulled her from the investigation yet, so she still was permitted all access she requested for the case. The officers did not have to like it, but they would need to comply.

Keeping a cool, expressionless expression as she walked past officers trying to rile her with snide comments on how 'that kid' was wasting his time and how 'everything's done and dusted', she entered the archives and dug for information on Amagi, Satonaka and Tatsumi. In the case of the latter, she knew what to skip this time around and went for anything that might simply show him as a cross-reference.

She would find everything… something,  _anything_  which has ever been recorded about these teens. No matter how big or small, she would find details to the questions on how they could be either implicated on the murders, or they would be freed of her doubts decisively.

Sitting in the quiet archives in the center of the building, Naoto poured over indexes, petty crimes possibly related to the three, gang-references, and previously skilled entries. Her question right now was a simple one. What was hidden in the past lives of Satonaka, Tatsumi and Amagi, that would offer her a new lead?

The answer for that came swiftly. She had to accept that Amagi and Satonaka were irreproachable, and everything on Tatsumi only proved her previous sentiment of the youngster. Her finds were paltry at best. After two hours of work, all she had to show for her research was too insignificant to warrant anything new.

There were no former police records on Satonaka or Amagi. Amagi had a chain of solid alibi from day to day, confirmed by staff and gusts at the inn. Tatsumi had been checked into once more and she found his alibi to be compounded by her own investigations from a few months ago.

She left the station armed with a folder full of effectively inconsequential material. Material which exonerated her last three prime suspects.

On her way from the station, to the bus stop, and all the way riding home, all Naoto could do was frown at the folder in her hands and re-organize her thoughts.

Everything she had tried had looped back into failure. Nothing opened up new clues for her. Nothing seemed to confirm her sane or logical scenarios; nothing seemed to prove any of her honed skills as a detective correct.

A sickening feeling nestled inside of her. A bleakness that whispered: You have reached the absolute of what you could manage to achieve. You. Have. _Failed_.

* * *

When she walked into her apartment, she kicked the door shut behind her; walked into the living room; dropped her latest set of folders… and let herself down onto her knees slowly.

Naoto's eyes wandered over weeks and months of work all around her. All her drive and effort. And to what end had she worked?

Her case was stuck. She had used up all possible alternatives to solve the murders. She had failed at connecting with the teens, who obviously only toyed with her now. She had failed to get any cooperation from the local police, and even the Yasogami Prefecture seemed to offer less and less assistance. Her insights and her investigative means had been pushed to their limits. What remained now? Where could she turn?

Grampa was in America now. Calling him was out of the question.

Tatsumi was balking her attempts to gain more information.

The rest of the teens had done nothing but mock her.

Dojima had told her weeks ago to stop and abandon the case.

The other officers at the station blocked her at every junction.

What was she missing? What was the last piece of the puzzle she had not yet considered? Or, indeed, did she have to dis-assemble everything and re-build the puzzle fully?

Doubt lodged inside her chest yet again. She felt it like a physical entity; a weight that made it harder to breathe. Her thoughts seemed to be pulled into a spiral, the fear of failure looming, and a momentous disaster of her own making. Was defeat really an inescapable outcome of the Inaba case then?

_Think, Shirogane!_

Staring at the floor, she pulled the cap off of her head _. Back to basics. Occam's' Razor_.  _Remove everything that has so far not lead the case forward. Take that blade and remove the erroneous data you have amassed._

She slowly got to her feet and picked up an empty file box. Time to apply the razor.

The first files added were the ones she had just brought home. Amagi and Satonaka were a dead end.

Anything linking the younger Tatsumi to the murders went into the box. He was solidly ruled out by now.

All information regarding Kubo followed. She had tried to show this and was denied.

Collected thoughts on a hired assassin followed; right after the 'outsider theory'-data. Lack of physical evidence made it obsolete.

All other constructs; theories and hypothesis were added to the box, filling it. So she filled a second. And a third. And a fourth.

As her apartment became more structured again, so did her overall thoughts. She picked up the trash littered about and filled a bag to be disposed of later. She collected her laundry and filled a basket piece by piece.

By the time she had discarded everything she knew to be proven wrong; removed the refuse from her apartment; and started a batch of laundry; she found most of her living room barren again. Gazing at the boxes filled with discarded work, showing wasted hours in her fruitless efforts, she felt her eyes stinging unpleasantly again.

What had she actually accomplished so far? She had helped in securing information at the third murder site. She had assisted in finding Kubo and charging him with murder. She had also, several times, provided facts that showed Kubo was not the killer of the first two victims, though these efforts had been discarded by others.

So what else did she have to show for all her work? Boxes filled with wasted efforts.

She swept her gaze around the room again. One small cluster of folders remained tucked away into a corner nearly behind her couch.

She went into a crouch beside it, resting on her heels. The slim folder was a collection of local rumor and gossip spread by house wives and teenagers. She had written down anything she heard back then, even rumor. Though this bit… she had discarded it after just one review. The mention of the Midnight Channel was prominent on each of the pages and notes assembled in this folder. A rumor she had so far not disproven, but rejected as laughable.

And by not being disproven, the data in this folder did not get cut by the razor…

She picked up the folder hesitantly and flipped through the pages. Notes on mentions of the Midnight Channel. Dates when she had overheard the rumor flare up. One note attached with a paperclip was dated all the way back to the 10th of July. It noted her conversation with the teenagers in front of Marukyu tofu. They got nervous at her mentioning of Morooka not being shown on TV.

She was reminded of her theory that the killer sought out victims by popularity and after broadcasts showing them on TV, possibly to raise the perceived worth of the murders committed.

She balled her right hand into a fist and bit gently onto her index finger, frowning. Slowly, the old hypothesis came back to her. Her interpretation of the facts had led her to believe that the culprit wanted to raise his or her profile by ensuring the murdered victims were well-known.

She got up and started to pace her living room while flipping through her notes.

 _Scenario_ : The murderer, much like Kubo, is driven by the desire to be known and / or popular. As such, they select persons of current local interest. Interest is often sparked through the news and the late-night broadcast "Niteline", according to what she had noted down. After each such surge in apparent importance, rumor and gossip about the person peaked, leading to the culprits' attention being drawn to the victim. This in turn would attract the attention of the killer and bring him to his or her victims. Perhaps they even were a member of the press in some form?

And somehow this brought the teens into the picture, as they, too, had noticed Morooka's lack of an appearance.

Amagi, Satonaka, Hanamura and Narukami all had some connection to the first and second victims. So they could know of the situation. Perhaps someone, maybe Amagi, was not the killer, but perhaps a crown witness, scared to come forward after what happened to Konishi.

She stopped her pacing and placed the open folder onto her table. Still too restless to sit again, she squared herself up, fists pressed to the table top.

So far, that new scenario held up. By that line of reasoning, however, she was missing another vital point. How did Kanji Tatsumi really get entangled with the other four? Back in May, he made allusions to not having friends or at least not considering someone his friend. That had since changed, and dramatically so. He balked at her questioning and her requests for help, telling her today that he could not possibly assist her ' _with this_ '. So how did he get involved?

And how did Kujikawa? As a former idol, she expected her to shy away from casual friendships, especially seeing she expressed a desire to recuperate from personal matters. Or was it that this especially made her seek out companionship? They went to the same school, but senpai and kohai generally did not sync up so effortlessly. What had forged them into a unit?

What had the four second-year students have in common with the first-years?

What was the trigger that would cause these seemingly different teenagers to form any bond, and so quickly?

Naoto turned from the folder of discarded Midnight Channel rumors on the table. She needed to re-trace her steps when investigating the teens.

Flipping through papers in discarded boxes, she pulled up the folders with information in Amagi and Satonaka. She found a report on Amagi having gone missing. Back then already, Adachi hinted that he felt she was involved, but Naoto had dismissed it as a fancy.

Nothing on Satonaka.

She kept digging, pulling up the files on Tatsumi and Kujikawa. There was nothing memorable. She had tried to find out more about the idol, but nothing remarkable passed through her hands at the time.

But then there was the report of Kujikawa disappearing. Her grandmother being unconcerned and even the press did not comment on it. At the time, even Naoto had dismissed it. Apparently it was normal for Kujikawa to just take breaks. Yes, Naoto remembered thinking that the idol must have had access to funds that could allow her to withdraw to a hotel or similar.

She was also reminded of the span of two weeks in which she lost all trace of Tatsumi.

Naoto lifted her head from the box of papers and stared across the room to the map of the murder locations.

Her thought had always been that before the murder was an abduction. A time in which the victims had been missing. She was certain neither Yamano, nor Konishi had been murdered where they had been found.

Had Amagi, Tatsumi and Kujikawa been abducted? And subsequently been recovered?

If they had been… That would mean three things.

First. Morooka not having been on TV and not having reported missing mattered for more than she had previously accounted for and absolutely explained the nervousness of the teens when she questioned them previously.

Further, second, they knew precisely what was going on and yet did not notify authorities. Or even reach out to her, even though she had given them ample opportunity.

And finally, third, Amagi-san had not lied when she talked of entering TVs, helping people escape.

Naoto's mouth slowly dropped open.

The answers had been in front of her. If she still applied the rule of "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected"; she was left with the most outrageously impossible of them all.

 _Oh Amagi-san. Had you been candid all along?_  'We go rescuing people who've been kidnapped by jumping into the TV!'

How could she possibly prove this theory? How could she make any of this actually come to be?

Flipping through the 'Discarded' folder, she found the other hint she had forgotten. Niteline.

Naoto grabbed a note pad and began scribbling furiously, before dashing back outside. She needed to check if any of the teens had been shown on that show.

* * *

**September 12th, 2011, Late Evening**

"Please, try not to frown like that, Shirogane-san. I just need to apply this lip gloss…"

"I do not believe that I truly need any make-up." Naoto grumbled. She felt naked without her cap, but even though it was right in front of her, it seemed miles out of reach.

"It's the lights, Nao…  _sorry_ , sorry,  _Shirogane_ -san. They strip away even your naturally handsome features. I just need a few small additions to ensure the camera can pass your good looks on to our viewers. Please?"

The detective glared at the make-up artist behind her in the mirror for a moment… and relented. "Very well. This is your chosen vocation, after all. You'd know best. But, please, do keep it to the minimum we truly need. I'd rather be noticed for what I have to say, not for what I appear to look like."

"No need to worry, Shirogane-san, no need to worry at all. The Detective Prince will simply appear to be that sliver more handsome, nothing more. I have been doing this for years, and you can never tell that anything was done at all when I am done. After all, if you consider…"

Naoto tuned her out, settled back into the chair and closed her eyes, feeling brushes and pencils mover over her face.

The decision had come this morning. She called up the production staff at Niteline and offered up to appear on the show to give an intimate insight into the investigations of the murder cases.

If everything she had put together so far was correct, she would lure the kidnapper-slash-murderer towards her. Knowing what to expect, she could easily guard herself against the kidnapping and escape without too much effort.

The editorial staff had been delighted, an interview was agreed upon – even though they insisted on a segment called "The Detective Prince's True Identity". She had reluctantly agreed upon it. Give and take, she told herself. She could challenge the kidnapper with what she had to say, she did owe the editors some small compensation for helping her.

She surfaced from her thoughts to hear "…and you should have seen what I did when we had the regional Prefect of Economic Affairs on the show. Hiding his blemishes while still accentuating his features. But working on you is such a pleasure, you hardly need any help at all, why, your skin is…"

Drivel. She returned to her own thoughts.

Tonight would quite possibly burn her remaining bridges with the police. Not that this mattered much. Adachi and Dojima had been shunning her. The other officers at the police station seemed to hardly desire her involvement.

She placed all her chips on this one gamble. All she could hope for now was to cause enough local anxiety which would make her the proverbial talk of the town by tomorrow.

"Shirogane-san? Please, it won't take long, I just need you to stand up so I can give your uniform a quick brush down."

"Yes, certainly."

Naoto hopped from the chair and stretched her arms out sideways, feeling the lint brush go back and forth over her jacket.

_Ready. Set. Action, Shirogane._

* * *

Naoto had studied her posture for a while before she walked onto the stage, shook the moderator's hand and sat down to his right. She casually placed her right arm in front of her, leaning forward slightly. Her left hand closed lightly around her right and she turned her upper body slightly towards the man on her left. She could easily talk to him or the camera this way.

The NiteLine jingle started up, the director's assistant gave them a countdown – and then the red light on the camera switched on.  _On air._

The announcer flashed a brilliant smile into the camera straight in front of him. "Good evening, and welcome to Niteline's special Nitewatch Report! A suspect in the murders in Inaba was safely arrested recently. But what few people know is that the mastermind who brought him to justice was a detective – who is attending our local Yasogami High School. Tonight's report will focus on this Detective Prince, Naoto Shirogane, whose handsome looks are sweeping the nation. Thanks for being on the show."

The presenter turned and flashed the young detective a brilliant - and utterly fake - smile.

"No, no" she replied in a low, warm voice, "the pleasure is all mine." Leaning on her arm, she replied his smile with a warm one of her own.  _Make sure people watch. Play to the crowd that is out there._

"First, congratulations to you and the police for your recent arrest of the culprit." Naoto gave her interview partner a slow nod. "It was well-known that there were a lot of mysteries surrounding this case, and you did a great job clearing them up."

"I would love to fully accept your praise. However, I'd hesitate to say that the matter is "cleared up," as such. It's true that our suspect was behind Mr. Morooka's unfortunate death." She turned her head slightly, glancing at the camera for a moment. "But when I cast my eye over the case as a whole, I detect a few things that seem out of place." Her eyes wandered back to the show's host.

_Yes, that wasn't in your script, was it?_

Interviewer suddenly fumbled with his script. "Oh. Ah - l-like what?"

Naoto kept her voice smooth and steady, the practiced low register combined with the spark of amusement in her eye making her the picture-perfect image of the Detective Prince they had wanted for the show. "Unfortunately, I cannot divulge details at this time. But this matter claimed the lives of three people, hence I believe that even the smallest inconsistency must be examined."

The man seemed to have found the notes he was looking for. "I...I see. I have to say, this is a surprise in light of the police's official statement. It –ah. It was announced that the young man caught confessed fully-"

Naoto nodded and smoothly spoke over the man. "Yes, but a confession does not signify they actually committed these atrocities. I am of the opinion that the young man may have actually indeed only taken one life – and claimed the others for reasons of megalomania."

The interviewer became even more flustered, stammering something about the police's official statement then flipped quickly through his papers once more. Beside the camera, the production assistance moved his hand in a 'Move on!'-motion. "N-Now for our next segment, 'The Detective Prince's True Identity', where Naoto-kun tells us a little bit about himself."

Naoto narrowed her eyes a moment, before switching her practiced smile back on.

It seemed the host noticed it and stammered "Ah. A-Amazingly, the Detective Prince has solved a whopping twenty-four cases. Sixteen of them were conducted alone, without the involvement of his famous grandfather.  _Shirogane-san,_  is living up to such an illustrious name a challenge?"

She shook her head. "I simply do my best. Many people adopt the careers of their families. In fact, only recently one of my peers told me he found my dedication to my heritage admirable."

"But to investigate a series of murders so young... it must be traumatic for a child, correct?"

Naoto stiffened and stat up straight, her relaxed manner vanishing.  _Here, too?_

"Not at all. The situation in Inaba is far from the first such case I have handled. The focus in an investigation is not the injured or deceased party. It is finding the one responsible."

"What about your many admirers?" The interviewer was smirking now, one elbow leaning on the desk. "It's said you're a popular figure at your high school. Do you have anyone special in mind?"

Her face finally went utterly blank. What an altogether senseless diversion. "The question is irrelevant. My work takes precedence."

"But surely even you must feel pleased that not only your brains let people notice you. You are a handsome young man; I am sure many feel jealous of the attention you gain!"

She shook her head, sitting back in her chair. "It is as I said. My work defines me. Social interactions, as pleasurable as they may seem to be for most of my peers, are simply distractions from the goals I must achieve. Allowing myself to squander precious time with distractions of that nature would be irrational and unreasonable."

She forced her smile back in place. Keeping it interesting. Keep people watching. Make them talk.

"But I cannot argue a certain welcoming charm with the inhabitants of Inaba. It is a very appealing town."


	11. Chapter Eleven - Communications One

Receipt Date: Mon, 13th Sept 2011 11:49:40

Delivered-To: ShiroganeYF

Subject: Re: Inaba

From: Shriogane, Naoto shiroganenaoy@gmail.com

To: Shirogane, Y.F. shiroganeyf@gmail.com

* * *

 

Grampa,

I am sorry I have not been writing a lot. I am starting to wonder if joining the structured public education system was a mistake. I know we both talked about this, and I know it was my own idea. I also fully realize you supported me in this step and I will perform as expected. I cannot seem to connect to my peers. And the attention  _do_  I receive is uncomfortable and unwanted. Countless female students leave notes in my shoe locker each day. I am considering the purchase and installation of a lock at this point.

The case is proceeding, albeit not as I would wish it to.

The police have reached a level of uncooperativeness that is unacceptable. I am considering reaching out to the Yasogami prefecture to see if I can be working through another department or office. I understand that you counseled against this step in the past, but the case is taking a bad turn.

It seems the local legal body is pushing for Kubo to be tried, not only for the murder of Morooka, but also Yamano and Konishi. I have attempted to present my facts to them; I have written down lists and provided proof to back up my facts. They dismissed it all. I am no longer certain the sanity of these people is factual.

To make matters worse, I tried once more to reach out to my source, Kanji Tatsumi, whom I mentioned before. He seems stuck between offering assistance and being unhelpful. Every time I try to motivate him to cooperate with me, he seems to simply balk my progress. It is so frustrating, Grampa. I had thought back in May I could use him to further my cause, yet it seems I did not read him correctly.

I am working on a new theory, but it is not yet solid enough for me to share it with you. Suffice to say, the new angle I am checking is a bit fantastic and I fully expect having to alter the premise before I will be successful. As it stands, I seem to have tried everything else, and I cannot advance in what I am trying to achieve.

Further, I apologize to you.

I realize that my handling of this case is shining a poor light on not only me, but on you as well. As your protégée, I should have managed to present a solution to the problem months ago. You surely would have solved the case already.

I can only assure you that I am taking the case seriously and am working on it as my new school schedule allows.

Also: I may be offline for a few days. I will reply as soon as I am able to.

I love you.

We will speak soon.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having to trust into civilians and amateurs is a frightening concept, but the chips are already down. The gamble she had started the previous night may or may not pay off.   
> And the ones who will be her trump card need to be aware, ready - but should not interfere.  
> She cannot afford any distractions in this matter. She cannot relax now.

**September 13th, 2011**

How soon would the provoked reaction ensue, she wondered. Would it, even? So far she had not arrived at a conclusive point in her theory which would allow her to predict the next few days.

Naoto decided to be prepared either way and provide copious amounts of opportunity for the kidnapper/murderer to strike. Facilitating them needed to be balanced with protecting herself, of course, without being too inapproachable. Further, she needed to direct the flow of rumor. Showing herself in public today would solidify her work from last night.

After getting up, she spent some time depositing her gathered files into the living room closet; heaping it in, if she was being honest with herself. Subsequently, she had showered, dressed and headed to the flood plains early. She knew the path the teens would take and was certain that they would have met to share their observations of last night's interview. Hopefully they would, and in doing so, assist in spreading the hearsay about the  _Detective Prince_.

She leaned against a tree, giving anyone passing flat, calculating stares. She would not invite any sort of palaver with anyone except the ones she needed to speak to this morning. Accentuating her image as the mysterious young detective could start after that was done with.

When not putting up her defenses, she allowed herself to ponder last night's interview. She heard her name whispered whenever someone walked by, be them a student or house wives up early for morning errands. In that regard it would seem her gamble had started paying off. Those who had watched would mention it to those who did not and showing herself in public helped prompt people so they would continue spreading the word.

Still, she felt some anxiousness. She urgently had to ensure that the 'investigation team' knew of her measures. If she was correct in her assumptions so far, implausible and fantastic as they appeared to her, then this group of teens would be the ones who would react to her disappearance.

If she was feeling truthful, she might very well place her life into the hands of these teens. Although they were her peers, there was no doubt that they could not match her skill in both policing and deduction. It was also unlikely that they would even be needed, as she was fairly certain she was capable of extracting herself from a kidnapping situation on her own. And if not, this group of students would need to be her limited backup. She had to meet them this morning to solidify her chances of success. They had managed so far, and without clues, so her giving things a nudge should make it a bit easier for them to comprehend.

Also, she could not risk their interference fully. If she was too generous with the details of her plan, they could very well decide to foolishly play hero and impede into her abduction. An interference she had to avoid at all cost, if she wanted to gather a validation of her hypothesis and use herself as demonstration of the perpetrators method. She needed proof, irrefutable and solid, to ensure that the police would re-work the Kubo case.

Looking towards town, she saw her assumption confirmed. The teens walked up towards the school, a gaggle of chatter carrying the words 'Niteline' and 'Detective Prince' towards her. Good, that would hasten matters.

As they drew closer, she could hear Satonaka-san say "Yea! It was weird! He  _so_  doesn't strike me as the kinda guy who'd go on a TV show..."

A fitting entry point into the conversation. "Agreed. I, too, would have preferred not to do it." Pushing herself away from the tree, she stepped on the patch and approached them. She stopped several steps in front of them. Not exactly blocking their path, but making sure they would not just be able to walk past her. "Good morning. I have been waiting for you all. There's something I needed to discuss with you regarding the case."

The detective gazed over the group. Her plan's backup, even if they may not be so voluntarily. Present were only the four second-years and Kujikawa. She felt an irrational moment of disappointment that Tatsumi was not with them. He was ponderous and awkward, and yet, he was the one person she had interacted with on a cordial basis the most. His presence would have been a familiar amenity during this confrontation.  _Well. Nothing for it now._  They will certainly inform him of what is about to transpire this morning.

As so often the case, it was Hanamura who spoke up first. "Discuss? Dude, we'll be late for class if we talk too long…" He trailed off and looked her over, puzzled. "Hey, where's your uniform?"

Naoto was pleased he noted her lack of school uniform, a vital hint for them, but spoke over his question. "Could you please indulge my current theory on the matter?"

"That again? Well..." Hanamura exchanged a look with Narukami before turning back to her. "What is it...?"

The detective turned her back on them, then took a slow breath before replying. She needed to think carefully. Leave the right clues, avoid them interfering too soon and still stress that she knew what this was about. She tucked down her cap, placed a hand on her hip and stared at a crack in the pavement for a moment before she spoke.

"First, as regards commonalities between the victims, all of them were kidnapped before they were murdered. The victims were all locals who had been the focus of recent media attention, becoming suddenly well-known...That is the most likely scenario. I don't believe there's anything intrinsically unique about the victims themselves..." She glanced over her shoulder. "Haven't you all come to the same conclusion?"

After a moment of quiet, it was Narukami who spoke up. "Yeah, we did."

Naoto nodded and looked away from them again. "Then, allow me to state my point. Will you admit that a number of you fit these identical circumstances? There was a long interval between the second and third deaths in this case. But after I applied the aforementioned criteria, I discovered several similar disappearances had taken place. Yukiko Amagi. Kanji Tatsumi. Rise Kujikawa. All of you disappeared shortly after being shown on TV. Either you escaped death somehow, or you faked your own disappearances in order to divert attention from yourselves. Since some of you had ties to the victims, there came a point where I suspected one of you must be the culprit."

There was a shocked silence. Had they really not come to that conclusion themselves? Did they not see how suspicious they have acted and what the logical conclusion of that would be?

"You thought one of us was the killer!? You  _can't_ be serious!" Satonaka sounded furious.

Naoto shook her head slowly. "You misunderstand, Satonaka-san. This was a prior theory, since discarded. Putting together everything I've learned until this moment, I believe exactly the opposite. You aren't the culprits." She hesitated a moment, sorting her thoughts to make sure she picked the right turn of phrase to convince them and to recruit their assistance. "You may, in fact, be the only ones with the means to pursue the true perpetrator. If seen as a joining of forces between the rescued, everything falls into place."

She halted for a moment, the hand on her hip toying with her gun's cord for a moment. Running her previous words through her head, she checked it for what she had revealed so far. It came down to her explaining what they had been doing, and that she knew. This indubitably would convince them that trying to hide from her, or indeed mock her, was no longer the correct course of action. They needed a new approach in their interactions with her. And Naoto could offer them one.

It was time to share something she knew which they did not for certain. "Of course, this is all speculation. There is in fact a flaw in the theory. It doesn't account for the third incident. Mr. Morooka's murder, which we previously spoke of. He has never been broadcast on television, and neither did he ever disappear."

Someone behind her shifted, took a few steps, but then halted - or was stopped. She continued. "We must also consider the condition of his corpse. The first two victims are still listed with an unknown cause of death...But Mr. Morooka died of an easily identifiable blunt force trauma to the occipital cranium. The police have not satisfactorily resolved this discrepancy, yet they are desperate to close the case."

Much of what she had just revealed would be badly misplaced if she was wrong and they were indeed involved in the killings… but if they were not, she needed to make sure they could discriminate the facts as much as she did herself.

And now that they knew, she needed to ensure they also knew what to expect next. "Further action will be necessary to obtain some sort of decisive evidence."  _Yes, that should suffice as a clue_. She moved the hand from her hip and patted her pocket a moment, feeling the concealed pen knife. She would be ready and prepared. She just needed to make sure they were, too.

It sounded like Satonaka-san's anger had disappeared. She sounded confused and slightly anxious when she spoke up next. "Further action...? What do you mean?"

Naoto turned to face them. Slowly looking in each of their eyes, she hoped they understood the urgency of the situation. Her case depended on them, but saying so could make them take matters too far into their own hands. She needed to remain in control and she would need a certain head start to do so. By her current estimations, they would have found her to be missing in a day or two, by which time the perpetrator certainly will have taken action. She would then, in turn, be in an adequate position to free herself, escape and possibly count on the assistance of these teens, should she actually find herself unable to do so on her own.

For a brief moment the thought that she might be found as the next victim tried to surface, but she stamped down on that particular thought. Hard.

"Well, whatever the outcome...the evidence should come to light. You said something interesting to me not long ago."

She smiled briefly, tapped the brim of her cap at them and headed back towards town.

Hanamura turned as she walked by and called out to her. "Hey, where are you going? You'll miss class if you-"

She stopped and softly replied. "This is not a game for me, either." In simple games, one does not gamble ones' life.

The last she heard as she departed was Amagi's very quiet "Naoto-kun…".

* * *

She spent the rest of the day being exceedingly visible and as prominent as she could manage.

A slow stroll through Junes rewarded her with excited whispers about "that interview last night" or "so young and already so many solved cases". Generally she detested people speaking about her, but right now she needed to cause as much incitement as she possibly could.

She visited every store in the shopping district, too, making sure to be noticed and commented about. She answered a few short questions by curious passersby. She ate lunch outside of Souzai Daigaku, making sure she sat outside and well visible. The weather played along nicely, the late summer sun was warm and if she had not been carefully keeping her surroundings in mind, she would have been able to fully enjoy the day.

As it was, with all her preparation in place, she still wondered if the abductor would strike at any moment or if they first formulated a plan.

She spend her evening on the hill, not to jovially watch the sunset, but to memorize the topography of the area. If she were to be taken to somewhere in Inaba, she was certain she could find her way around promptly, but she wanted to be sure that she could do the same in case she was taken somewhere near the city as well.

She even walked up to the station, but remembering the broadcast, changed her mind. She should at least wait a few days before she would reach with both hands into that specific wasps' nest.

By the time she left, the sun had long set and she was wandering back home by a route using many detours. She wanted to be ready. She needed to be. This was her highest gamble yet and without utter focus and concentration, she might well end in a serious predicament.

And so, as Naoto found herself slowly promenading southbound through the late-night shopping district, she heard a call from behind… and, unanticipatedly, above. She turned, not seeing anyone behind her. Peering past the glare of the street lamps, she tipped back her head to look up.

"Yo, Naoto! Wait!"

She quickly realized that she was beside Tatsumi Textiles. Her muscle memory had turned her down this street to take her to the bus stop, but she had not anticipated being noticed. This was absolutely not what she needed right now. A distraction.

As much as she would have wished to see Tatsumi this morning, she needed to avoid his interference now. He had shown a protective streak towards those he considered friends in the past, and his recent behavior since Port Island would indicate that he considered Naoto Shirogane as someone that fell in that group.

She whirled back and started to quick-march herself down the street, headed towards the bus stop. There was no time to waste with repartee and his very own brand of witticism.

There was, however, a problem when trying to put any amount of distance between oneself and Tatsumi. His gait had considerable reach and she found herself swiftly outpaced when he decided to dash after her. She had barely managed to get past the shrine's ground, when his steps thundered to a slower pace beside her.

"Dammit, I was calling you!" Tatsumi snapped, slowing from his jog. _Not even out of breath_.

She didn't respond. There was no need for it, this was not the time for it, and if he just-

She was grabbed. Her immediate reflexes, honed by some rather rigorous martial arts training when younger, kicked in at once. She ducked out of the grasp, dancing back and sideways. She felt the hand – Tatsumi's – slide off her shoulder, tugging at her shirt for a moment and she ended her motion by slapping his wrist away from her. She stood, right leg forward, left back, both slightly bent, the balls of her feet balancing her. Her hands were open, but on the height of her hips, ready to reach or redirect as needed.

Her head snapped up and she stared at him. "Do  _not_  do that again" she muttered. The tall young man had taken a step back as well, seemingly startled. She relaxed a little, her heels gently touching the ground, and adjusted her collar with both hands. Her glare remained fixed on him. Personal boundaries! Did such things not matter to others?

"You wouldn't stop!"

 _As if that- How does that-_ "You - I seem to encounter you every time I-" Naoto folded her arms tightly across her chest. Her mind and tongue battled for their say; outrage and confusion vying for attention first. She turned her head and gazed to the ground. Another diversion. One she could simply not afford to have right now. "I am positive there are other activities you could be pursuing, Tatsumi-san."

"Kanji. You called me that before, back on the trip." He sounded as if trying to reason with her.

" _Tatsumi-san_." She barely even knew him! "Why are you following me?"

"You were walkin' past my house!" He gestured with his open right hand up the street, as if that were any kind of an explanation.

"And you ran downstairs to meet me." She squared up _. He is just_ way _too tall_. Her chin tilted up, her stare hardened, her hand settled on her hip. "I am simply returning from the police station. This is the most direct route to the bus stop."

"Thought the cops didn't want you 'round no more," Kanji mumbled, rolling his shoulders as if getting ready to tackle her again.

Naoto bristled, but her voice dropped to a near-freezing point. "My professional affairs are none of your concern."

"But you didn't come to school." He looked confused at that, possibly even worried. Her assessment that he considered her someone to look after seemed on point. Further:  _Really_  not something she'd need right this moment. His eyes tried to peer at her in the poor lighting between street lamps. "You sick or something?"

"No," she said flatly, coldly. "I simply wanted to check on a few things. Ensure matters are settled." She had ended up not yet daring to enter the building, but he did not need to know that. The officers would not care much either way right now, and she had a feeling even if she would be taken, no one there would understand the urgency of the matter.

Tatsumi let out a grunt and ran a hand through his hair. "The case is over, Naoto, Kubo's in jail. You got to be on television and be the big man, and you-"

This was too much.  _Be the big man?_  He is naïve, but did he truthfully not understand what the goal of that appearance was? Naoto rounded on him, eyes blazing, fists clenched. Her voice vibrated in her throat as she practically growled at him. "Do you really think that is why I'm still in Inaba?" She kept advancing, glowering, her chin pushed forward. Even looking up at him, she felt him take hesitant steps backwards. "That I- I went on that ridiculous show to-"

Had she come across as gloating? As taking credit? She had said in the interview, that this was not yet the time for any congratulations.

She stopped short, jolted back, her breath caught painfully in her throat. Tugging angrily at her cap she twisted half away from the young man. "You must think I am-"

"That ain't it, I just..." His voice trailed off.

Naoto turned and glared up at him. "Just what?"

His voice was much quieter now. "You - you're gonna come back to school tomorrow, right?" He looked down, brow furrowed. Something seemed off in his voice. The pitch was wrong. His stance was wrong. He was not challenging her any longer. He just seemed confused and possibly... worried? "You can't keep missing it. S'posed to be the smart guy."

This gave her pause. It was one thing to try and keep him  _somewhat_  at bay while she needed to ensure the trap would work. It was another entirely to possibly burn yet another bridge. She had already damaged her relationship with the local law enforcement. Being willfully disruptive with the young man felt unwise. He was still Kanji Tatsumi. Ponderous, quicksilver-mooded, confusing. But each interaction with him had been cordial and indeed to her advantage so far. And when considered further; disgruntling him could mean she could lose a possible ally in a situation she could not yet fully penetrate or plan ahead for.

She relented. Her glare melted into a gaze and she took a step back.

"I have no other option," Naoto muttered. But she needed him to know that right now, she was still in control. She felt her shoulders tensing and the muscles in her jaw tightening. "I..."  _How to finish this?_  "I trust I will see you again soon. Kanji-san."

It was an olive branch, if a small one. He seemed startled, but pleased at hearing her use his given name.

She nodded at him, turned, and walked quickly to the bus stop, fighting Kanji Tatsumi out of her mind.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped in a unfamiliar setting, possibly exposed to harmful substances, and beleaguered by a creature that seems emotionally unstable. The situation seems to be more dire than she had anticipated.  
> Naoto is fighting to keep herself and her self safe enough to plan for an escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're cross-reading with 'The Shortest Distance from A to B ' (and if you're not, why on earth not?!); Distance Formula, Chapter Thirteen takes part right after Shortest Distance, Chapter 7, Interlude 1. Go ahead and read there, then continue here.

**... September? ... 2011?**

Slowly her senses started to report back her current situation.

She was on a hard, cold, smooth surface. Perhaps a concrete or metal floor.

The air felt both cool and clammy. Possibly a basement.

The illumination was dimmed, but it was not fully dark through her closed eyelids.

She heard beeps, clicks and humming in the background. Possibly the air conditioning unit of a larger building.

Her tongue seemed to have a metallic taste to it. Almost like earth ... or blood.

She felt no restrains, not on her hands, not on her feet.

The area around her mouth and nose felt unpleasant. Possibly a mild reaction to chloroform.

Naoto Shirogane, the detective prince, slowly assembled all of these facts into a greater image. The abduction had succeeded. She was no longer in her apartment, nor anywhere she was familiar with.

Without moving or opening her eyes, she stayed where she was; how she was. She was curled up on one side. She noticed a small pang of pain if she breathed too deeply. The faint memory of hitting the ground hard after she was taken surfaced, but vanished again immediately.

Chloroform. She remembered the sickeningly sweet smell of the substance as a cloth was pressed to her face.  _If I had not been so irrational and had not taken that first deep breath when I gasped, it would have taken much longer to take effect._  But she should have woken up in moments, minutes at the worst, after passing out from it. It did not, as shown in soap-operas, make you unconscious within moments and for a longer period of time.

She gingerly tried to give each limb a gentle move. No, no restraints. Whoever had taken her must have felt she was not a great a threat to them. Yes, someone had caught and carried her, quite likely much larger than herself. …not like that was too difficult. But if they had been the same person who took Tatsumi…

Naoto opened her eyes, just slightly, and peered forward.

The darkness before her moved. "Oh good! Good! You're awake! Oh, I am so happy, I was starting to worry. To feel alone!"

Going limp again on impulse, she analyzed the voice. It sounded... off. Too young, for starters. And female. Like a little girl. And...

"Oh, are we playing? You keep closing your eyes. Do you want me to go hide first, so you can seek me? That sounds like so much fun!"

Perhaps whomever had taken her, had abducted another, too? Was she too late then? Had the murderer stepped up his pacing?

A hand grabbed her shoulder and shook. Naoto could not help but flinch and suck in air through her teeth. It hurt. She must have hit her entire side hard on the impact she remembered.

The hand jerked back. "Oh no! Are- D-did that hurt? I didn't mean to hurt you! Please, I'm sorry!" The voice sounded ready to break any moment.

Playing possum was no longer an option. Naoto opened her eyes and ... looked into the anxious face of Naoto Shirogane. The one in front of her bit a quivering lip; her eyes glistened and... She wore an oversized lab coat. When at first she had assumed she saw a mirror, she realized she did not. Especially now, that she realized the eyes had an eerie, golden glow.

"Yay, you seem better!" The tears that had been brimming its eyes vanished at once. The creature before her clapped her hands joyfully, causing the overly long sleeves of the coat to slip over her hands fully and muffling the sound. "Oh, I have been waiting so very long for you, Naoto! We will have such a good time!"

The detective slowly eased herself up into a seated position, the clone happily babbling away.

Now that she could look around better, she found the room to be even stranger. Bright, directed lights illuminated consoles and machinery, but for the bright halogen lamps apparently used, the illumination seemed too low. Long rows of green neon lights lit the area under numerous consoles. The only real brightness was clustered around what looked like a large metal table. And still, she could barely see from where she sat to the other side of the room. Based on acoustics alone, it was not that large. She should have easily seen the other side.

Along the walls she noticed huge banners, showing some kind of sigil or logo. It looked similar to a stylized like a Phoenix or a Fenghuang. She could not think of any place or organization that used this logo and nothing in Inaba came close to this.

"Naoto. You are not paying any attention to what I have to tell you."

Her head snapped back to the other person. Their demeanor had fully changed. The submissive, child-like motions were replaced with aggressive, dominate posturing. The voice sounded different to. Masculine. Raw. Commanding.

"While you were being your useless self and slept, I attained the clearances to fortify the security of this locale. What you provided was a good first draft, I'll admit, but if we are to fulfill your dire need for change, we must not be disturbed. I'll let them watch, but I will not allow any interferences. I will  _not_  allow it. I won't!" The voice suddenly slipped back into the high, childish pitch and the creature stamped a foot, flinging its arms. "You came to me for help! I'll make you happy!"

Naoto pinched her eyes shut for a moment. This place seemed bizarre. Any shadow cast appeared to be a mix of red and black lines, slowly scrolling forward. Here and there the surroundings flickered, as if seen through the bad reception of a television set. In some areas the floor was just laid with thick metal grates; the actual floor going down a story or more.

She needed to add further facts to assemble the picture of this situation. "Who and what are you. Where is this place?"

The creature giggled joyfully, like a child presented with sweets, but the voice that replied was the cool commanding one. "You should recognize me. And you should know this place. But I did make some small changes. Come, let me enlighten you." The being hopped to its feet and held both hands out. "I hope you'll like it", the childish voice squeaked, "I wanted to make sure it's all nice and pretty for you!"

Keeping her eyes on the being, Naoto ignored the offered hand and slowly pushed herself up.

She was in what seemed to be a foggy command center. Air vents high in the walls spilled forth thick white clouds, cascading down to the floor. Dry ice? Using it as a coolant seemed extravagant. The room was filled floor to ceiling with monitoring equipment of some sort or another. Closed-circuit TVs showing hallways of similar style to this room; old and outdated ticker-tape machines and endless-paper printers; armatures with blinking lights, levers and pullies.

The dominating voice spoke up again. "Your groundwork was here when you invited me in, of course, but I made sure we would be safe and alone. I have made some additions to the security. I further added some changes to the layout. And of course, I had to prepare for the changes you need to undergo."

Naoto chose to ignore the clone. It was senseless babble right now and she still needed to know where she was. She pinched her eyes shut again. She kept feeling waves of dizziness cascade onto her. The chloroform should have long since worn off, especially if she had slept or been unconscious for a while.

Her hand was grabbed roughly. "You should not ignore me. I do not like being ignored." The harsh voice clashed with the tear-filled yellow eyes of the clone. The voice shattered into that of a little scared girl. "I hate being left alone. Won't you play with me? Just for a while?"

Considering her options, Naoto concluded this might get her access to an escape route. "Yes, why not."

A huge sleeve slapped her clone in the face as it lifted its hand to wipe quickly at its eyes. "Oh, yay, what do you wanna play?"

"Play. Certainly... How about you show me what we can see on these TVs?"

Skipping to a console, trying to pull Naoto along, the clone happily started to talk about the technical specifications of the closed-circuit system; how every corridor was linked and send its data to this very room; it also pointed out how they could zoom in and out of things and how it had built all of this on its own.

"How big is this complex?"

"On the surface," the smooth, dominating voice replied, "it is only a few square meters. Think of this as your ultimate defense for the ultimate changes in your life, Naoto." When the creature (or maybe automaton?) turned, there was a gleeful smile on its face. "It's the best place to hide! No one will find us here!" It turned back to some ticker tape and happily scooped up a small pile of paper band.

 _No one will find me? So then it is up to me, as I suspected._ "Impressive. Can I see what that looks like? How about a camera showing the outside?"

The clone stopped and when it turned around, the childish mannerisms were gone again. "Do you take me for a fool? I know what you are thinking. You will not escape. You cannot escape, not me, as I am linked to you." It smiles and whispered. "Forever." It stepped closer to her, their eyes locked. "You will grow to thank me for all I am doing for you." An almost tender hand tried to caress her cheek, but Naoto jerked back furiously. The clone smiled sweetly. "You will love me for it."

Naoto suddenly felt dizzy and the mild pressure she had sensed on her temples felt like an ice pick pushed into her head from both sides. She squeezed her eyes shut, only to hear "What is wrong, Naoto Shirogane? Can you not handle this world? Your world?"

When her legs gave way, she felt arms catching her, sinking with her to the ground. "It's okay... shhh. You just need to rest a little." The voice smoothly changed. "You must be so tired." The childish voice had returned, but even though she wanted to pull away, she could not even open her eyes. Nor could she react verbally when she felt warm lips on her forehead and the arms that had caught her cuddling her closer. "We will never be alone again. You and I have each other now.".

* * *

Naoto woke up lying on the metal operating table. She sat up swiftly, felt nausea seize her and dropped back onto her elbows.

"Ah. The detective prince graces us yet again." The voice sounded like it was on the other side of the room, and when Naoto finally managed to sit up, she saw the clone work on some machinery using futuristic-looking tools. Or as futuristic as a children's morning show would make a five-year-old believe. "Are you able to continue the tour then, or do you wish to waste more time sleeping?"

Naoto slowly swung her legs off the table and slid off it. Holding on with one hand still, she looked towards the controls the clone was working on, noticing how a small lever she pulled seemed to connect to a large robotic arm over the table. "I am quite well. You need not concern yourself with me."

"Oh, wish that I could, but I know why you are here. I understand what  _your_  concern is, so it also is  _mine_. And I also know why I am here. You need me to help you." The clone turned and a much smaller voice continued. "And I need you to not leave me alone anymore. This will fix us both."

The changes pointed to a schizophrenic complication with the clone. How someone could have cloned her so perfectly, but gotten the demeanor so wrong... It was less likely to be a biological clone and more likely to be some kind of construct. "Tell me who made you."

"Made me? You big silly! Mom and dad and grandpa made me. And you made me most of all!"

"That does not answer my question. Who created you?"

A slick smile replaced the child-like wonder on the clones' face. "Why, Shirogane, you did. Just as you created this-" arms were flung wide, sleeved flapping, "and much like you created THAT." A flapping sleeve pointed at the detective.

"You are not making any sense." Her headache was getting worse again. Naoto rubbed her temples again and suppressed a groan. The air. There must be something in the vapors running into the room. Or rising up through the grates below them.

The clone shifted again. Excitedly it ran up to her, trying to grab her by the arm, which Naoto dodged. "Come, come! I am almost ready with the preparations. I made it so I can simply use the console to make the needed changes. Wanna see the laser-scalpel? It's so awesome!"

"I would really rather see the cameras showing the outside of the compound..."

The voice shifted oddly, as if the excitement of the creature made it jump between its two phases rapidly. "There are no cameras out there. No one can get close, however, because this is a secret location. No one knows about it! We're all by ourselves here. No one to tell us what to do or who to be. We can do anything;  _be_  anything we want!"

"You said  _we_  can. May  _I_  leave then, if I want to?" She squeezed her eyes shut again. The way the strange shadows all around moved made her dizzy and-

She heard a furious outcry. Her eyes flew open. Even before she could get into any kind of defensive stance, the clone spun around and slapped the detective straight across the face. "How dare you? How  _dare_  you? I am doing this for you, for us! I will make sure no one will ever again dismiss you and you will never again need to hide. And you thank me thus? Leave? No, you will not  _leave_!"

With a shaking hand, Naoto reached up to her cheek, her eyes wide. The slap had been hard and unexpected. She tasted a hint of blood, likely she had bit her cheek or tongue. The clone spun around and hit a few buttons on a console near the metal table. Before she knew what was happening, Naoto felt being grabbed roughly by an unseen force and flung onto the operating table once more. Manacles snapped shut around her wrists and ankles before she could gather her senses.

"Wh-What? NO! Let me go!" She tried to lean up against the restraints, but stopped when her position on her back made the room swerve and she felt illness grab her by the throat.

The clone stepped beside the table and looked sadly into her eyes, a sleeve-covered hand brushing her hair back. "I know you are scared." The voice shifted into coldness, but the demeanor did not, still tenderly petting her hair while harshly continuing. "You are  _always_  scared. 'What if someone finds me out?' 'I am a fraud' 'I will never be able to lead a successful working career in that male-dominated world.' I know all your fears, Naoto- _kun_. And I will address each one of them, you will see."

The nausea was becoming consuming. But she felt like even if she needed to, she would not be able to produce anything worth expelling from her pained stomach. She must have shown her discomfort, as the cold voice continued. "Well, you are incapacitated. I suppose this will not be too much a risk..."

The creature vanished and short moments later, the table slowly tilted, presenting her upright. A shy, sad-looking clone returned and a child-like voice whispered to her. "It is all very difficult. But you have me, Naoto. We have each other." The clone leaned forward and very lightly kissed her lips. When it whispered, its warm breath caressing her mouth and chin, its voice was cold and critical again. "I will fix you. And you will be better than you have ever found yourself."

Darkness crept up and claimed Naoto.

* * *

Naoto woke up groggily, curled up on her side. There was someone close by her. An arm was slung around her midsection; she felt warm, steady breathing against her neck.

She felt tired and weak. A dull pain seemed to permeate throughout her body, as if she had been exercising vigorously for days. Breathing hurt, as if the air was impure somehow. And she felt that slow-throbbing headache that just would not budge.

She must have signaled being conscious somehow, as she felt the arm around her pulling her closer. She felt warm lips against her neck, placing a number of small kisses. Naoto shivered. And then she heard that cool, commanding voice. "You know, you could have this whenever you wish, Naoto. You would not even need to change too much about yourself."

The detective struggled weakly to escape, but the arm around her was like a steel cord.

"All you would have needed to do is allow friendship and companionship. Or even just the love of your own  _grampa_."

Grampa. She had not accepted hugs from him in years now. She wanted to show him how strong she was. Physical contact is not something she saw adults exchange, so she denied needing it. It may have been pleasurable to feel an embrace from someone, but not at the cost of shattering the image she was working so hard to maintain.

"Oh, and with just that little bit extra, you could have had them recently, too. You made friends, did you not. Well.  _One_ friend." The creature produced the acoustic equivalent of molten chocolate poured into a silken cup. It was more than a laugh, it was warm and seductive and yet somehow not friendly.

"But you don't even see friends if they are begging you to be with them. You always push it away. And I end up alone!" The voice's change to the small and pitiful came so unexpected after that last laugh, that Naoto had to admit feeling a pang of compassion for this broken being. Especially when she heard and felt it sob deeply.

With that, the presence behind her vanished suddenly. Naoto felt the cool, clammy air replace the warmth of the other body. She also realized that she might end up falling victim to Stockholm syndrome if she let her guard down. She needed to re-steel herself. She needed to take control of the situation.

"Thank you for releasing me."

As much as she wanted to find a way to escape, she felt unable to formulate a plan or direct her thoughts. She possibly just needed to rest more. Just … a little while…


	14. Chapter Fourteen, Communications Two

Receipt Date: September 20th, 2011

Delivered-To: Shriogane, Naoto - shiroganenaoy@gmail.com

Subject: Re: Inaba

From: Shriogane, Y F - ShiroganeYF@gmail.com

To: Naoto-kun - shiroganenaoy@gmail.com

* * *

 

My dear Naoto.

I am sorry you had to wait so long for this reply. I tried to call you yesterday, but it would appear your phone is turned off.

The investigation here in Washington D.C. keeps me very busy. I have not worked with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation in some time, and I forgot that they approach some things differently than what I am used to doing. Maybe it is a sign of my age that I am starting to feel annoyed easier when trying to deal with changes in processes. As it stands, I appear to be 'getting on their nerves' rather frequently, and they get their payback by smothering me in paperwork. Having to rely on a translator in certain meetings adds another layer of complexity that I could very much do without. I realize I mentioned this previously, but it bears repeating. I am very pleased you continue to pay close attention to your language skills. I sadly let mine decay over the past decade.

I see from your letter that you struggle fitting in with your fellow students, is that a correct assumption?

I am very sorry, my dear. It is possibly my fault for not insisting on a more formal education when you were younger, but with my travels being what they were and you being so young, I had thought getting you tutors would be a safer, more efficient way to rear you.

Have you considered talking to the girls who find you appealing and either redirecting their interest or simply explain your own disinterest? It would appear to be the most direct route.

Please communicate with the faculty before installing a private lock to the provided pigeonhole you have been assigned.

I still feel your initial logic of being involved into a public school is a good experience for you. Should you still intent to attend university, then the formal path through high school would prepare you far better than working with any number or tutors on your own could. I have reviewed the well formulated arguments you send me before school started and I stand by your analysis. You are slated to gain much more than just academic growth, however, I feel you also stand to gain a social network, if you can but learn to get along with your class mates. That is something I cannot provide for you on your own. And, my dear, you are coming into an age where you may prefer to talk about certain things with your peers over talking to me about issues that might preoccupy you.

You mentioned Kanji Tatsumi several times now. Looking at some of your earlier letters, he is a teen himself, yes? When you say he seems stuck between being an aide and a hindrance, what do you mean? Do you feel he is involved in a manner that allows him to throw a false trail? If so, maybe investigating him directly could prove helpful in and of itself.

But you also sound disappointed in him on a personal level. Why is that? Had you established an understanding of some kind with this young man, my dear?

What about your case appears to be holding you back? What steps have you taken to reveal further insight? And at which steps of your investigation have you stopped for a general overview?

I know you worry about bothering me and your pride in your work is fantastic, but you may ask me for help, dear. There is no shame in asking a colleague for assistance and insight. I do so frequently when working on cases, from you and others. Sometimes we are simply too close to a case to find an immediate solution or we even can end up missing crucial data simply by looking into the wrong place.

I would be glad if you shared your thoughts and trails so far with me, Naoto.

Have the police actually stated they would abandon the case? You spoke highly of Dojima-san; has he not been supportive?

Finally, I wish I had gotten you on the phone to say this, but since you cannot be reached right now:

Never again claim that your work reflects badly on me. You are fifteen years old, my dear, you have over two dozen cases already solved, several of which without any assistance. You are a strong young woman, living on her own for long stretches of time. I know how hard you work. Did you know I have friends in Kyoto who told me about your sleeping habits? I am proud of you. I know you are an outstanding example of dedication and that you apply yourself fully to any work placed before you.

If you claim I am not pleased with you, you claim I do not notice any of these qualities in you.

I am proud of you, my dear. I love you.

Call me when you are no longer incommunicado.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rescue is at hand, so to speak. But much to Naoto's frustration, the teens do not seem too hurried to help her escape.

She felt that she was nearing the end of her short-lived patience yet again. After some more posturing and grand-standing by the clone, boasting about the prowess of the guards (which it oddly never specified) and speeches on how it would wipe out any aggressors approaching them; Naoto and the clone had watched how the teens fought and fought, progressing through the defenses the clone had underlined several times as being undefeatable. She felt like it took forever, now and again the teens vanished from the CC-TV, then returned what seemed like moments or hours later.

She had lost all sense of time, her repeated loss of consciousness (it could not be simply falling asleep, surely) muddling up her normally well-honed sense of time. Her watch had stopped working, the date and time settings seemed broken and showed all number eights. Perhaps it had gotten damaged. She would surely need to open it once she got home and inspect the parts for damage or corrosion.

During one of the clearer moments she had, Naoto wondered what that combat looked like for the teens. Seen from the outside through the cameras, she just saw the teens rushing into a darkened mist and then re-appearing shortly after. Sometimes injured, so she was certain it  _was_ combat she saw. But she could never actually make out what happened. Each of them carried more or less preposterous weapons. Narukami seemed to hold a  _zweihander_ , while Tatsumi seemed to carry a table of all things one moment, then appeared to carry a kind of shield the next. Satonaka seemed unarmed, as did Amagi. And that strange friend of theirs, Ted, if she remembered correctly, seemed to have insisted on that ridiculous bear-suit, having equipped what looked like genuine  _pantera_.

And while she had no direct proficiency or familiarity of the base’s blueprint, something told her that they were coming closer. Most likely the more and more feverish snaps of sobbing and angry insults from the clone, if nothing else.

She abhorred to admit the fact, but she started to feel anxious in the presence of the creature.

Suddenly the clone flew into an indescribable rage. Between its grandstanding and fits of crying, it ran from console to console, pushing buttons, flipping levers. Naoto lifted tired eyes to the screens, all showing the teens returning once more, this time all of them and not just a small group. Furious, the clone spun around and bolted in a dead run towards her. It stepped on the oversized coat, stumbled, and fell on its knees before the exhausted detective.

Tears streaming down its face, it looked up at her, its yellow eyes seemingly glowing. "They are here!"

Naoto barely registered her alleviation through the fatigue she felt. "Indeed. The game is up."

"They have come to take you away from me!"

"No. They have come to return me where I belong."

"You belong here! You belong with me!" It fell forward, drumming impotent fists on the metal grates of the floor. "You  _must_  stay. I n- _need_  you!"

Naoto felt a vestige of pity for that broken creature. Whoever had created it must have been a cold-hearted maker indeed. So much raw emotion does not come out of a void. It comes from suppressed feelings - years of repression and isolation; possibly years of abuse conducted directly at it.

The creature shuffled forward on its hands and knees. "Please...  _please_..!” Naoto shook her head and pulled herself to her feet.

The groan of agonized metal sounded behind them, as a door rumbled open, two sections sliding apart. She knew it had been a door, but nothing seemed to open it.  _So there was a release for it, but on the other side only._

She heard the team run inside. She was not sure how she had expected her rescue to happen, especially seeing she had always still expected to escape on her own, but she heard the familiar and somehow comforting shout of "Naoto!" in the voice of Kanji Tatsumi. It had been her assessment that he would be the one who would seek her out. He was, after all, the last one she spoke to and he was the one she had known the longest, in a way. His appearance with the rest of the group could only mean that he had figured out the hints she had presented him with.

Still. It grated on her she even needed rescuing. She turned to face them, fighting to keep herself in finely controlled composure, pushing her aches, pains and nausea aside. "It's about time you arrived," she said flatly. "Dealing with this child has been quite a pain."

The clone looked up, too, started, and grabbed for her arm. The voice hitched high, wailing. "No! No, no, don't go!" It clutched at her, holding on as if she was the only life line in a stormy sea. “Why, why do people always leave me? …I’m gonna be alone forever."

She once more felt the pang of empathy for the sorrow the creature must endure and shuddered at its touch. She allowed the hands clutching her arm however. She had grown accustomed to the creature touching her in these last few... hours? Possibly. She shook her head, not looking beside her. "This is useless. I need to go back now."

The crying grew more frantic beside her. "You know what it’s like! Why? Why are you leaving me here? Why am I always left alone?"

Naoto swallowed a wave of nausea and mumbled a reply. "Try to understand. I need to lead my life. I cannot be held back here. I cannot take care of you or be held back by you."

She felt a tear-soaked face trying to snuggle against her hand. "It's s-so lonely, I don't  _wanna_ be alone!"

In response, Naoto could only roll her eyes. She had tried reason. She had tried demands, questions, comforting. She was out of further attempts at this point. She was also aching, feeling quite ill and needed to leave here. The sooner, the better.

She heard the teens talk to one another quietly, but was too far to actually make out what they were saying. Why had they rushed in here, but now were passive? She could still be in danger, but they simply stood afar and watched. She felt reminded of Tatsumi’s injury during the school trip and the passiveness his peers had shown that night.

Naoto turned to glimpse at the clone, disconnecting its grasping hands with a small shake of her arm.  "I see you still wear the same face as me," She attempted to make her voice louder now, but her tone was not quite level. She had to explain this somehow. Make sure the teens understood that she had nothing to do with this being. The feeling of illness seemed to rise again. "But the similarities end there. The difference between me and you is-"

"Differences? Why delude yourself? I  _am_ you." The creature switched voices seamlessly, into the same deep, exaggerated, commanding voice it always used when it was mocking her. The tears vanished as if by magic, as always they did when this shift happened. It proudly rose beside her, one hand painfully clutching her arm once more; one turned to the team, then casting the sleeve toward itself. "These childish gestures are no mere affectation - they're the truth! A truth you have been hiding! And by hiding, the only one you hurt is the one you are trying to protect."

Naoto felt a stream of ice-cold, molten iron flow into her spine. She grabbed at the pointing arm and tried to jerk it back. "You will not do this. You will not involve them in... in  _that_ ," she hissed.

"What?" the clone sneered. "The fools all say it, don't they? 'You're only a child,' 'Keep out of our business, kid' and so forth - doesn't that sound familiar?"

Her voice raised in pitch. "That, that has nothing to do-"

"But it's the key to everything, isn't it? No matter how many cases you spend hours cogitating over, no matter how many crimes you solve, you're a child in their eyes! It's only your brain they're interested in, the grey matter locked up in that skull." The being pulled its arm free and swung it towards the team, possibly pointing. "Just like them. They are not here because they  _like_ you, Shirogane. They just think you'll be a fun plaything. For a little while, at least. Until your novelty has worn off."

Naoto's eyes followed the gesture with a blank stare. What if that was true? They did not know her, not really. The only ones who may have had any kind of positive feeling for her seemed to be Tatsumi and Kujikawa, and with these two she was not entirely sure, either. Kujikawa less than Tatsumi, but that possibly because she kept trying to flirt with Naoto. It make her uneasy. Kanji Tatsumi never flirted.

He now lurched forward, his brows drawn down, fists shaking at his sides. "Naoto, that ain't true, don'-"

Narukami placed a hand on the punk's shoulder and held him back, saying something softly.

In reply to whatever words were spoken, Tatsumi straightened his back, his muscles showing taut under his tank top. He trembled, and his poise appeared to be at the point of rushing forward.

The clone sneered, turning its attention back to the detective. "An impeccable performance, Naoto- _kun_. You've demonstrated how very,  _very_ clever you are, and how utterly wrong these children were. I'm sure they're all quite intimidated." It draped a long sleeve around Naoto's shoulder. "What happens now?"

She wanted to shoot a determined, strong answer back... but no words came to her.  _A plaything_. Was she a plaything even to those of her own age? What was she? Where would she go from here? She pinched her eyes shut as a sharp pain invaded her temples yet again; fingers of it trying to gouge at her eyes.

"Oh, but you already know!" the clone trilled. "As long as people need your talents, you're an ace detective - but when you're done, out the door you go." The arm around her shoulder hugged her close, near and tenderly, but the hand that gripped her was rough and the fingers boring into her shoulders painfully. A fleeting thought of a falcon holding its prey entered her mind.

Her head sank further, her field of vision now being bordered by her cap and the metal grate under her feet. She could not bear looking at either the clone or the teens.

The creature shoved her aside with a snarl, sending her stumbling. "And yet the outcome surprises you. Every. Single.  _Time_! Society is two-faced and playing pretend does nothing to deal with that. The real adults will always win - and you, you're just a lonely child!" With a gleeful laugh it added "Not even the other kids come to play with you, they just gawk," pointing at the others with a cheerful and quite childish giggle.

Naoto swallowed a wave of nausea, stumbling; her hand reaching behind herself, trying to find something to hold on to. She grasped the rim of the metal table. She could hear the teens talking softly. Still impassive.

And then she heard it again. The being started to cry, and turning her head slightly, she saw its whole body jerking with sobs, lifting the huge sleeves against its eyes. "I-I wanna be a grown-up!" The clone nearly choked, voice higher than ever. "I wanna be a big boy right now, then, then they'll see - I'll show them who I am!"

She lifted a shaking hand to her cap, holding the brim down, not wanting to see it any longer; wanting to shut out the whole situation. It was mocking her. Emulating her somehow, but always missing the point. These were not her thoughts at all! Why would it paint such a grotesque picture of her - in front of others her own age?

It wrung its hands in oversized sleeves. "Please... please! I...I want a reason for me to stay!" The sobbing turned into a desperate wail. "You do, too. We belong together… Please. You must not let go.”

Naoto’s hand clutched at the table, her eyes pinched shut against another wave of pain throughout her body. Her words started as a whisper, gaining volume as she spoke. "Stop it... go away...  _That's enough_!”

It cringed and the next words were barely audible between hiccups and sobs, saturated with anguish and torment. Its voice cracked around each word as it howled, “I  _wuh_ -want... a  _reh_ -reason… to  _stay uh-alive_!"

Naotos’ head snapped up, her eyes rimmed by tears of distress.  _How could it know? How could it possibly have known these thoughts buried within_?

She had never shared these thoughts, never even dared express the lonely feeling of any escape at all in written manner. She knew she had these feelings occasionally. Knew she often felt like being a burden to Grampa, or how everyone else could simply move on easier, or how the longing for her parents could simply be snuffed out with just one action, just one lift of the barrel, just one bullet-

_ NO _ ! She furiously ran her hands over her face, not allowing the tears to fall, roughly wiping them away. “I-I can find my own reason for living!"

The voice altered with a laugh. "Your own reason? Impossible, Naoto- _kun_. You are but a child. How can you change that essential truth?"

Trembling hands clapped over her ears. “Stop saying that…” Naoto looked up, her hands dropping to her sides, balling into fists. She felt herself shift, felt herself readying herself to swing at the creature, hitting it, shutting it up. "S-Stop it...!"

"Simply put, you cannot. You idolize the sort of 'strong' and 'cool' men who populate detective fiction, but for all your efforts to emulate them, all your attempts to dissemble, you know full well you're nothing of the sort." She saw the creature approach her, felt it placing both hands firmly on her shoulders. "Unless you can change the person that you  _are_. And you are a child."

Naoto's hands unfurled from fists and flew back to cover her ears. "Don't! Don't you dare call-"

She caught herself. The pain, the nausea, the distractions thrown up by the creature. She needed to escape its pull. End the discussion. She shot a glance at the team of teenagers, then pulled herself up, roughly planting a hand on her hip. She tilted her head up and coolly glanced at the clone. Just for a few minutes. She only needed to hold on a few minutes, then she could take control, leave this place, and continue her hunt for the killer. Her case - that was the goal. Her case and finding new leads.

"Endless affectations," the clone clucked, scowling. "But there's no avoiding first principles.  _Admit_ that you're a child, and  _admit_ that there's nothing you can do about it!"

Naoto's mind was racing. Truth. All of what the creature had said could be considered a certain, limited truth-

It spun towards the operating table, lab-coat twirling about it. "Now then! Our analysis is complete. Let us begin the body alteration procedure!"

The detective simply stared. She thought she had grown accustomed to the taunts and insults. But bearing them in front of an audience…

The clone hopped on the table, perched on the corner and smirked at her. "So strong! So silent! Presumably you have no objections... 'Naoto' Shirogane."

Her resolve shattered. It would not dare. It could not! It would not bring  _that_ up, not with any witnesses. Her voice fought to remain smooth. "S-Stop it!"

The creature just chuckled and rocked back on the table, heels kicking against the side. "'Naoto'... such a cool, manly name! But a name doesn't change the truth. It doesn't let you cross the barrier between the sexes!" Naoto winced, it felt like someone had taken a hammer and flung it through her absolute self; sending it to shatter all around her.

It leaned forward now, chin resting on its hand, eyes wide and curious. The child-like mannerisms clashed with the cold words that it spoke. "Tell me, Naoto-kun...how could you become an ideal man when you were never male to begin with?"

She could hear the teens mumble, but could not hear them. Not because they were too quiet, but because everything in her head ran amok. Her heart pumping furiously, she heard her pulse like the rushing of an ocean whipped by a hurricane. She shook with each thundering heartbeat. With a shaking hand, Naoto pulled off her hat and ran a hand through her disheveled hair. She tried to force her breath to become calm; tried to make her heart stop racing. Evenly. Slowly. The heart thundering in her chest made it quite impossible. "I won't throw a tantrum," she hissed. "That accomplishes nothing!"

The clone's deep, manic laugh echoed through the chamber. "Ah, how often I've heard those words from the adults! 'Throwing a tantrum won't solve anything, Naoto-kun,' and other such bilge!" It jumped down from the table and sauntered over to her again. Its voice was smooth, warm, like honey. "They made you cry, didn't they?"

It slid behind her, sensual hands running over her arms, up to her shoulders and hugged her closer lovingly. The same silky voice mumbled into her ears, warm breath making her shiver. "They made you cry. They made you feel alone and isolated. And yet here you are, mimicking those same men. What exactly are you trying to justify?"

She twisted from the embrace, one hand balled to a first, half pulled back. "What...?"

"It's all right. You needn't suffer anymore." The beings voice was smooth, almost gentle. It reached out and trailed a finger under her chin. "That's why you're undergoing this bodily alteration procedure. That's why you need to be fixed - and then everything will be so much better."

"I-I don't want..." She edged away, glancing from the creature to the team and back again - before shaking her head. The pain behind her eyes and temples was nearly consuming her by now. She felt weak, sick. She lifted a shaking hand to her face, willing the stinging in her eyes to cease this instant.

"You throw a tantrum, but it fails to change the situation a single bit!" The being tutted sadly, letting its arms drop. "I can quite understand the feeling." Eyes glowing brighter than ever, it paused, tipped its head, smirking balefully. "After all, I am you."

How can that be? How could they... did someone attempt to replace her? But would this was impossible. It was an inferior copy of her! ...were the other teens replaced in the same fashion? Wh-No! It was trying to confuse her, that's all.

Naoto gathered herself, flinching at the throbbing pain in her head. Cold anger grasped her and she sneered at the creature. Fists back, shivering with fury she shot back. "That is not true!"

Chie shouted out behind her. "No, Naoto-kun, don't say it!"

She wanted to turn around, ask for them to leave, ask for them to help, but the glare of bright yellow eyes consumed her entire field of vision. She heard a second voice speak up behind her. "It's okay." Tatsumi's voice sounded odd. A mix of determination and sadness. "Let the kid spill the whole thing. If not, Naoto's gonna keep hurting. We'll just do our job and kick the Shadow's ass, yeah?"

Hands still curled into fists, Naoto glanced over her shoulder at him.  _Shadow_? Their gazes met, and for all of a split-second, she felt a rush of energy. It felt as if he was willing her to push through. As if his being there was the needed encouragement she had been waiting for since she arrived here. And something else... through her pain and weakness, something else crept up inside of her. Thankfulness? Naoto was unsure of what it was. She was just so tired and exhausted.  _Emotional, as a result of … whatever all of this was._

She watched him lift a solid-looking shield, the muscles in his arms and shoulders playing as he did.

Behind her came another hysterical laugh. Naoto turned, flinching and shivering with pains and nausea, watching the creature; the  _shadow_. "As if you know anything about me! You'll kick my ass, huh? Go ahead and try, you lizard-brained imbecile!"

Naoto frowned. Kanji Tatsumi may be simple, but that was going too far. “This only delivers the final proof! You are not me!”

She whirled around to face the being - and stopped as she noticed the floor around the ...shadow turning black. Dark fog rose up from through the grates and swirled thickly around the shadow's legs, spiraling up until even the yellow glow of its eyes disappeared.

She felt being flung across the room. Later, she could not recall hitting the ground.

The exhaustion of the previous days tried to shut her down, but she clawed at consciousness, wanting to refuse giving in... She was carried... Placed down... She thought she could hear Tatsumi bellow. But then she slid away into darkness, conscious thought retreating.

###

Cohesiveness returned. "Mmph?" Her body was positively permeated in dull pains and aches. Her head hurt. Her eyes fought her as she tried to open them. "Where..."

"Naoto-kun! Are you okay?" Amagi-san. Hands tried to latch on, but she needed to avoid the contact. It could reveal her frame and... Other, more hidden items of clothing - for a better lack of terminology. She roughly squirmed away and pulled herself to her feet, legs struggling to support her, squinting at the oddly bright green light, body shivering with aches and weakness.

"Wh- I... I remember you all arriving here, and ..." Naoto trailed off, glancing at each of them in turn, then around the room - and when her eyes finally settled on the shadow, she flinched. Memory came flooding back. The speeches. The grandstanding. They had gotten a show they were unlikely to forget and even less unlikely to have missed entirely. "You... you all saw everything." She forced her eyes shut and sighed deeply.

She had been trying so hard to deny the possibility. Had spun the most ludicrous of explanations she could think of. (An  _Android_ , Shirogane, really?) But again she had to count up the facts. The way it knew things about her, things she was certain not even Grampa had seen about her in years. Or the way it echoed some of her deeply hidden emotions. A 'Shadow' the teens had called it. And while they had rushed to be here for her, they had watched quietly, even holding one another back. They knew this world, it seemed, and knew it better than she had. Not involving them into her planning showed itself as a miscalculation now.

Maybe this creature was indeed a… an individual she had formed. A manifest of her fears and hurts. A part of her that both wished to be protected and urgently desired to protect her in turn. Just where had she been taken?

Naoto walked towards the cl- ... the  _shadow_ , looked it up and down, and let out a soft sigh. "I don't know what you are," she told it quietly, "but I know where you come from."

Hanamura coughed. "Uh… You can tell me to butt out, Naoto-kun... but... well, why'd you pretend to be a guy?" he asked, yelping painfully a moment later. "Come on, it's the obvious question!"

Naoto's jaw tightened. "It's... complicated." And that was only the briefest possible way to describe the situation.

"We have time," someone behind her said evenly. "Plenty, now."

Naoto closed her eyes again, and felt a sleeve-covered hand try to take hers. She allowed the contact and opened her hand to welcome it, closing fingers around the shivering hand in hers. She looked into the mirror of her face, dominated by bright yellow eyes, filled with tears, as they gazed longingly at her. "Very well. I shall endeavor to explain." She gave the hand a squeeze, then turned back to the... the other teens. For a fleeting moment, the word 'friends' tried to form, but was viciously smothered down.

"I lost both my parents in an accident when I was very young. My grandfather took me in." Her gaze unfocussed, staring through her fellow students unseeing as she chewed her lip a moment. "I... had little talent for making friends, so I spent my time reading detective novels in his study."

"I-I remember you looking at them," mumbled Tatsumi. She re-focused her sight and looked at him. He in turn eyed the floor grates. "At the bookstore."

As Naoto nodded, the shadow opposite her mimicked the motion. It drew a deep breath and said, voice quietly wavering with emotion. "When I grow up, I'm gonna be an awesome, hard-boiled detective!"

"More or less," Naoto muttered. She looked back at the .. Well. At her _self_ , for a lack of better explanation. She turned back to the others. "My parents were also detectives, making me fifth in the Shirogane line. An inherited occupation can feel stifling, yet I yearned for the day I could follow in their footsteps and become a detective myself." She shook her head. "But I was always alone. I suspect my grandfather felt it was his duty to compensate for that by helping me realize my dream."

"Which is why you've already solved so many cases." the tall gray-haired boy said.

"Exactly, Narukami-san. I secretly aided my grandfather with his clients - and before I knew it, people started calling me Junior Detective. At first, I was delighted... but not everyone welcomed my collaboration." She grimaced. "My status as a 'child' has been sufficient to offend many potential colleagues."

She felt her legs weaken, so she found a console and leaned her hip against it as casually as she could manage. "Were my youth the only issue this situation would naturally resolve itself with time. Unfortunately, changing from a child to an adult only solves one side of the problem. Changing from a woman to a man... that half is impossible to achieve merely with the passage of time."

"Do you not like being a girl?" Yukiko asked. "Is that why you always dress like a boy?"

Naoto nodded, eyes averted. "My sex doesn't fit my ideal image of a detective. Besides, the police department is a male-orientated society. Give them one 'concrete' reason to look down on me, and nobody would require my assistance any longer."

"You don't know that," Tatsumi insisted brusquely. He glowered with the suddenness of his quicksilver mood.

Amagi nodded in quiet agreement before speaking up. "Kanji-kun's right. And you already know that what you really want isn't to become an adult or become a boy, don't you?"

Naoto crossed her arms and lowered her head to think. She took stock of her general being and feelings.

Was she truly gender dysphoric? No. When it came down to it, it was more like an actor pretending to play a part than a human who felt emotional distress at being trapped in another body than their perceived gender. She did not desire to be male for any reason other than work. She also had to realize she lacked any female role models she had fully embraced in her ideal career. She barely remembered her parents and Grampa was as close to the stereotype as one could come.

It was an act. A show she had put on. And in the end, it was not the actual problem at all. "You're absolutely right," Naoto said to Amagi-san. She turned her head to her shadow and cocked her head, watching as it again mirrored her movement. Slowly, hesitantly, it walked up to her, covered hands reaching yet again. The yearning in the action took hold of her chest. Years of pushing aside her emotions; years of teaching herself to not feel, to not be a child, to not be emotional and feminine... was this what it would look like inside of her, were she able to see the results?

Naoto took its hands in hers. "I am sorry," she began. "I kept ignoring you, pretending you didn't exist. But you are me, and I am you. What I should yearn for-" Naoto hesitated, one hand rubbing her neck. "No. What I must strive for, isn't to become a man. I must accept myself for who I really am."

Before she'd even finished, a blue glow around the shadow had begun to flare brighter and brighter, eventually swallowing it completely. The last thing to vanish in the glow seemed to be a tear-stained smile.

With the sound of breaking glass, a small winged figure appeared in its place - then vanished, the light settling on Naoto instead and diffusing over her skin.

As innocent as that moment seemed, it came with a physical component. It felt as if someone tried to pull the skin from her scalp, followed by a prickling feeling down her spine. Finally, she felt a taut pulling feeling behind her eyes, as if something physical was trying to push its way inside. Her eyes narrowed, and she grabbed her head - then collapsed to her hands and knees. Though her panting and the pain of it all, she noticed how Tatsumi jolted forward, stopping after a few hasty steps towards her. None of the others had moved.

"Wha-what was that?" she hissed.

"You'll be fine, Naoto-kun." Rise Kujikawa knelt beside her. A gentle hand rubbed her shoulders; another tried to help Naoto settling back on her heels. It was a sign of her exhaustion that Naoto was unable to shake off either help or sign of affection. "Same thing happened to all of us."

Naoto blinked at her, her eyes watery with pain. "You're... certainly a devious bunch. No wonder the perpetrator has eluded the police." Hands leaning on her knees, she let out a shaky, humorless chuckle. "C-Can't believe you kept ...something like this hidden. For so long." She noticed her speech slurring slightly and fought a shudder.

"Yukiko did try to tell you," Hanamura jokingly pointed out.

Naoto heard a confused "I did?"

"Yeah, back at Tatsumi Port Island, the nightclub, you- ow! Stop doing that!"

The next to speak up was Satonaka. "Yosuke, keep your mouth shut! Um... I'll explain later, okay?"

"Well, regardless..." Narukami's voice broke in, "at least now we know this case isn't over."

Naoto fought slowly to her feet. Her head pulsed painfully with each motion, and the nausea made her feel… smaller. Weaker then she had before. She saw Amagi offer her a hand, and she reached out for it to steady herself - before yanking her hand back sharply.  _They cannot see how weak I really feel. I'm sure my hand is shaking._

"Yu's right." Hanamura winked at her, flashing a quick grin. "And you proved it, Naoto."

"Yeah, s'right," Tatsumi interjected with an odd glare at the second-year. Naoto noted he offered a hand to Kujikawa, helping her up, then turned to the detective. "C'mon, kid. Let's get you out of here."

Relief flooded Naoto. She was safe now. The teens, limited abilities and all, had pulled through for her. She gave Tatsumi the specter of a smile. "It is as I said when we last spoke. Last night... or the night before? I'm sorry, my watch stopped working while here."

She stumbled, her legs nearly giving way as she tried to take her first step. Kujikawa was at her side at once, gently catching her. "Kanji-kun, you klutz! Offer a hand?"

Naoto shook her head. "Thank you... but, that will not be necessary." She pulled free from Kujikawa and steadied herself against a console once more.

Amagi had a puzzled look for a while, before she spoke up. "Naoto-kun, how long do you think you've been here?"

"I am not sure, I kept passing out, possibly due to these noxious fumes all around." She rubbed a hand over her face tiredly. "Seeing how comparatively well I seem to feel overall, I estimated it might have been about 36 hours."

Kujikawa shot her a glance, then smiled tightly. "Well, I am glad you are feeling alright! Now, let's try that walking thing again, okay?"

Setting her jaw tightly, forcing her body to move based on pure willpower, Naoto started to head out of her fortress.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

 

She was unable to recall the winding paths taken. The strange red-and-black striped shadows continued to make her nauseous; walking became a matter of pure will. She simply kept trotting along, one foot stubbornly placed before the other, allowing the girls around her to gently direct her motions now and again. She was certain she actually lost consciousness a few times. It was that, or that her brain simply lacked the energy to keep a record of her transition between places.

When she found herself on hands and knees yet again, fighting to gather her senses and force them to report in, the first thing reporting in was Tatsumi's strange-sounding voice. Pressed, somehow. Angry. Worried?

"Hey... hey!" Blurred vision made it hard to truly see, but a darker shadow seemed to be in front of her a moment later. "C'mon, answer!" If she concentrated, her vision actually managed some colours alongside shadows. As she narrowed her eyes, she saw a hesitant hand seeming to appear before her, then being drawn away.

She pinched her eyes shut again. If anyone had told her that she had spent the last week being held bound and gagged while receiving the battering of a lifetime, she could have believed it. The aches and pains throughout her body made even simple muscle work difficult. She could not even fully experience mild annoyance as she found even breathing to be a struggle. Her heart thundered, working hard to keep up with the physical stress her body underwent.

A quiet female voice spoke up near her. "Sheesh... Naoto-kun really put her life on the line for this." Satonaka, possibly? A small burst of pride at her words tried to make her lips quirk into a smile.

"Nothing to be proud of..." Tatsumi's gruff voice cut that impulse short.

"No, it isn't," another male, low voice agreed. "But if she hadn't, we wouldn't know the killer is still on the loose."

The delinquent growled, low and angry. And then muttered, almost softly, "You're too frickin' reckless, dammit."

This had to stop. They worried about her, and she did not wish to burden them more than she had by needing a rescue mission. "I-" she swallowed, "I never doubted... that you'd all come for me." She attempted to push herself up, but aside from her muscles shakily protesting, nothing happened. "Though the reality h-has turned out to be... far beyond what I'd imagined"

"Tch... what a dumbass!" Tatsumi snapped, pulling himself to his feet. "You're no genius at all. We were tearing our hair out over you!"

Fury so hot it froze her every thought made her pull up her head finally. Her vision swam a moment, then it latched on to the tall teen towering before her. She forced herself to try and sit on her heels, trying to at least get so far as to kneel. She tried to glare at the insult, will herself to demand he explain himself.

It only added to her anger that the best she could manage was a small frown directed at him from under her brow.

When the tall young man met her eyes for a moment, his expression shifted. She had seen this shift before, in others; when conducting interviews to be precise. And then realization came.  _He is putting on a show. He isn't angry, not really. He looks like someone who is angry at being caught out._

A new thought tried to elbow into the foreground.  _Why was he fussing?_  None of the other teens seemed as preoccupied with her actions. So why him? He frown shifted into puzzlement.  _Who are you, Kanji Tatsumi?_

Kujikawa lightly skipped to his side, happily looping her arms around one of his. "Oh, so you did worry about her, Kanji!" The thought that she may have missed the two them in a romantic engagement surfaced briefly, but was buried again under a new wave of nausea. She closed her eyes and let her head sink.

"Shuddup, Rise! Mind your own damn business!"

Well. Maybe she was wrong in that last thought. She was not sure why she should care about that issue one way or the other right now. However, that previous thought still hung on. She held his gaze, the frown melting into puzzlement. Why did he care about her actions seemingly more than the others?

"Okay, guys," Narukami said, stepping in front of Kujikawa, "Let's not have this conversation in the middle of Junes, all right? I think Naoto-kun needs to get home."

 _Junes_?

"I'll take her," Amagi immediately offered, bending down at Naoto's side.

She, in turn, reacted in the only logical and acceptable way. "It's... all right... I can... " She shivered, words trailing off.

"No way, missy!" The detective winced at the outburst of Kujikawa. It was far too remains of the way she had addressed her in the Junes food court only a few short months ago. "Don't think that doing everything on your own is the 'adult' thing to do! Me and Yukiko-senpai'll take care of you."

_One should always name oneself last in a listing of people… Why would I even care about her composition at a time like this?_

While she still eyed the teen idol through half-open eyes, the grey-haired boy spoke up, directing the others. "You too, Tatsumi. Can't have them out causing trouble this late at night."

This was too much. Naoto flinched, mumbling to herself. "Three of them. Am I so pitiful a display? What's next, calling an ambulance?" She levelled a frustrated glare at Amagi, Kujikawa and Tatsumi in turn - before finally giving a small nod.

As much as this was an embarrassment, she needed some small assistance. She still felt unable to rise to her feet, so when a pair of hands each reached for her upper arms on both sides, she did not shake them off again. Slowly the two girls helped her to her feet and she finally got to take in her surroundings.

It was indeed Junes, the electronics section. She had been here frequently, though not near the TVs. Since the small specialized store in the shopping district had closed down, she came here to buy tin-solder, wiring and similar items for her electronic tools, gadgets and machinery.

Once erect, she gently rejected the steadying hands and willed her legs into motion. Taking the lead before the others might convince them that she did not need to be helped further and she could make her own way home.

* * *

That however turned out to be a fleeting fancy.

When, for the fourth time in half as many minutes, her legs refused to support her and she nearly found herself barrelling into one of the girls at her side, Tatsumi grunted with annoyance and put up a hand, motioning the girls to a halt. He stepped before Naoto, eyes her wearily, and went, his back towards her, on one knee. "Hop on."

Naoto gaped and stared. "Wh... what?"

The boy grumbled something before replying audible. "J-Jus'... c'mon, man, you can barely stand. Hop on."

She could swear she heard the beginning of a titter to either side of her. She flushed furiously. "Absolutely not!"

His reply came with a quick glare over his shoulder. "Ya can climb on, or I can toss ya over my shoulder."

"Neither! I will not be lugged about like- like a sack of rice, Tatsumi-san!" She shot Amagi a baleful glare as the latter could no longer contain her laughing and snorted a few times.

She turned her head to see him tilt his head back, looking towards the cloud-hung sky. "Rise," he sighed.

Before Naoto could react, she felt two hands placed on her shoulders and herself being being pushed forward. Unable to catch herself in her weakened state, she stumbled and fell onto Tatsumi's back. His swift reaction secured his arms around her legs and under her knees; while reflex made her swing her arms around his neck.

She absolutely did  _not_  squeak. She was startled. It was just an outcry. Anyone could have reacted in a similar fashion.

It was over in a flash, and Tatsumi already straightened up, lightly tossing her up a few times to settle her more comfortably onto his back.

 _Outrageous_! "You will put me down this  _very_  instant, Tatsumi-san," she hissed against his neck. She emphasized her words with a sharp kick; trying to click her heels into his sides. She only managed to hit his legs weakly.

"If by 'this very instant' you mean the moment we get you home, Naoto-kun," Kujikawa happily said beside them, "then you are  _absolutely_ right. Besides, Kanji gives great piggy-back rides, I am sure!"

The detective glowered at her and bit back the scathing comment on her mind.  _Well, Kujikawa-san, you appear like you'd know all about those._  She tried a punch against his shoulders. "Down, Tatsumi-san.  _Now_. This isn't funny!"

He grunted, but did not react in any meaningful manner.

Naoto tried to push herself away from Tatsumi. She noticed one traitorous arm curling itself against his shoulders for support. At once she made her arms twitch away from him, pushing against his back. She leaned back, but felt a hand on her from behind, pushing her forward again with way too little effort. With a light giggle, she heard Amagi-san say, "Careful, Naoto-kun, you don't want to fall off. It's a long way down." A snorted laugh. "Kanji-kun is so very tall-" and then it just dissolved into laughter.

She would not stand for it. She balled her fists and pounded them on his shoulders. "Set me down. Now." She added a kick for extra emphasis.

He did not reply, simply taking one long-legged step after the next.

She heard Amagi and Kujikawa start to chat lightly, walking behind them.

Maybe the gentle approach would work. Naoto swallowed and lowered her voice. "Listen, Tatsumi-san..."

He murmured what sounded like "Tatsumi again," but she was not entirely sure. He had been rather quiet.

She hesitated a moment, feeling his grip around her legs and the steady rhythm of his pace. It was... eerily soothing.

"I appreciate your offer to come to-to my assistance in this... this matter." She placed one hand on each of his shoulders and leaned forward, lowering her voice further. "But surely you, too, agree- I mean, you see it, too, what a strangely c-compromising position we are in. At this moment. I would n-not wish to embarrass you before your associates and-"

"Do you always talk so much?" he replied gruffly.

Naoto actually fell silent at that, taken aback. Thankfully, the girls seemed to have missed the comment, as the chatter behind her did not cease and they still seemed to be deep in their own conversation.

Suddenly, gravity seemed to fail. She felt light-headed, her muscles first cramping up, then slacking. Her reflex was to tightly fling her arms across the broad shoulders in front of her, clutching at the front of his shirt as she squeezed her eyes shut. The lurching feeling didn't stop.

"Hey... Naoto?" Tatsumi's steps faltered a moment and she felt as he turned his head.

One after the other her hands let go of his shirt and clasped his shoulders. She fought down the nausea that last burst of vertigo had caused and swallowed hard. She noticed her hands shook, but she simply could not let this continue any longer. She could make it on her own, without this ridiculous show they were surely putting on right now. If anyone were to see them... if one of her co-workers from the Inaba station were to-!

She struggled, trying to make him release her legs. The only action this triggered, was a hum from him and a readjustment of his grip on her.

"Put me down." she hissed weakly, trying to give his sides a kick.

He growled deep in his throat. "You ever shut up?" He shook his head and resumed walking, lengthening his stride again.

"I said... Ugh! Put me  _down_ ," Naoto repeated. "You- you d-don't need to-"

"Give it a break!"

"I... I can walk!" Her body betrayed her with a shudder.

"Yep, Naoto-kun," Kujikawa chirped behind them. "We know. Just not in a straight line and not for more than a few seconds, right?"

Naoto growled and tried another punch against Tatsumi's broad, toned shoulders. His... She frowned, trying to catch that last thought once more. It escaped her, so she turned her frown into a glare and directed it at the pierced ear in front of her.

"Well, we're almost there," Amagi said lightly.

Naoto thumped a fist against her mounts' shoulder. "Then put me  _down_!"

Rise Kujikawa let out a deep sigh. "I used to think you were so eloquent, Naoto-kun."

"And I used to think you had it all together," the young man muttered, skipping a moment to make her settle down against his back. "Why you gotta be so stubborn?"

"I-I don't require your assistance - or transport for that matter," Naoto weakly mumbled into his shoulder. "So... y-you don't need to be here."

A few steps ahead, Amagi stopped in front of a tall apartment building. She ran her eyes over the lettering on the building. "Is this it, Naoto?"

Naoto peered up, one hand pressed against Tatsumi's head for support, and nodded.

"Good. Do you have your keys?"

"... Pocket." Though she punctuated her answer with another kick, it felt half-hearted, even to herself.

She surrendered to the care of her saviours. Only a few more minutes and she would be able to rid herself of them. She let her chin sink on Tatsumi's shoulder, her eyes sliding closed after she mumbled her apartment number to Amagi.

She had nearly started to actually doze off, when she felt Tatsumi stop. Shuddering, she pushed herself up, seeing Amagi ease the key into the lock, quietly opening the door. "We don't want to wake anyone up," she whispered.

"You won't," Naoto murmured. "Nobody there."

"Oh... is your grandfather away?"

"D-doesn't live here." Isn't even in the country. "Put me down," she added.

With a sigh, Amagi shook her head and pushed open the door - and, after a few seconds of fumbling, found the light switch inside.

Naoto knew what to expect, but still her apartment felt strange to her. As she saw it from behind Tatsumi's shoulders, she felt she saw it for the first time. The only true personal touch where the book shelves. And even these looks rather clinical. Just books. Stacked neatly, no variation, no changes. No personal items, save for the framed picture.

She noticed with some discomfort how the three teens that brought her here gazed about curiously.

"Tatsumi-san. P-Put me down," Naoto repeated. "Now."

"So, which one's your room?" Kujikawa asked, cheerfully ignoring her.

Naoto shifted her eyes towards her and sighed. Laying her arm over his shoulder, she pointed towards Tatsumi's left. He promptly turned towards the door and started to open the door to her bedroom.

Rise Kujikawa saved her with a squeal. "Kanji! Stop right there!"

She felt his shirt being tugged and he tried to wiggle out of the grasp. "Dammit, let go!"

"C'mon, are you seriously gonna walk right into a girl's bedroom? Put Naoto-kun on her feet."

Naoto's head sank against his back and she let out a muffled groan. As if this day had not been bad enough. Now she had to worry about her privacy being violated like this.

"Oh. Right." A trick of the light made it seem his ear grew pinkish.

He went back down to one knee, his arms uncurling from her legs. For a moment she worried he'd try to keep his hands on her, but it was the girls who took over. One of them on each side, they reached for her arms and attempted to navigate her through the door into her bedroom. She tried to pull away again, tried to see if Tatsumi was still watching. He was male! He should not be anywhere near- "Stop it! Just, j-just go away, I don't-"

"You never stop, do you?" Amagi muttered, closing the door behind them.

Kujikawa had not seemed to lose her good humour. What did she feel so happy about as it was? "It'll be all right, we're just making sure that you are okay. Why won't you just let us settle you in, hm?"

"This is my home! You should not force yourself in here and e-expect any less!"

"Oh, come, Naoto-kun! Don't be shy. We just wanna make sure you'll be alright. We've all been there, you know! If I hadn't had help, oh boy, I would have been in so much trouble."

"That's right," Amagi agreed right on top of her, "We've been there. We know what to expect."

"All I need is some rest and quiet."

"Indeed, which is why only one of us will stay here tonight." Kujikawa still had that bubble-gum smile on her face as she tripped the detective into her bed. Well. Pushed her in, really.  _Alright, so she only needed to adjust my general stance towards leaning a little too much and I …keeled over. Lost my balance, that's all._  Thinking these thought with a face full of pillow did not exactly make her pride sting less.

"Y- Y- You cannot possibly be serious..." Her energy drained quickly now. Her hopes of just holding on till the teens had left was fleeting and she could no longer deny even to herself that she felt sick. But not sick enough to need a... a nursemaid!

"I think I should stay with her, Rise. I told my parents I would be hanging out with Chie, and they won't worry about me."

The idol hopped up and nodded, her pigtails bobbing. "Sounds good." She skipped to the bedroom door and called out "Okay, Kanji-kun. You and I are heading out." Amagi had followed Kujikawa, closing the door part-way.

She could follow the conversation through the nearly shut door. "What 'bout Naoto? We're not just gonna leave him, right?"

" _Her_ , Kanji."

Naoto flinched and struggled from the bed. She was right here; talking about her in third person was quite out of order. Especially in her own home! Also, it distressed her that the teens knew her secret; having them discuss it this openly was ... uncomfortable.

"Yeah, her. Whatever." At least one person who did not seem to care about her gender in the midst of all of this. Did that mean she could tell herself that their behaviour was not over her size or ... whatever else they had learned tonight? She heard him continue. "Ain't no-one else here. Who's gonna look after her?"

She simply had to try making them leave. She clawed at her bed, trying to pull herself out. This was just all too much. She needed time to evaluate the past three days; she needed to find a solution to the predicament of them knowing," I... I do not need looking after!" Further, that blush creeping up was anger. Not embarrassment. Only anger.

Amagi, her back still towards the detective, didn't even turn around. "Naoto-kun, get back in bed before I throw you in there!"

Naoto spluttered in indignation.

"And Kanji-kun," the refined young woman continued, with an exasperated sigh, "there's no need to worry. Chie can cover for me, so I'll stay here tonight."

"You mentioned! Great idea, Yukiko-senpai! C'mon, Kanji." Kujikawa.

Okay, so that was two who had left. All she needed to do was make Amagi leave... or possibly beg her to. Either way, Naoto laid a hand on the black-haired girl's arm and began saying something - when she felt her arm gripped and herself  _bodily thrown_  into her bed.

"I did warn you," Amagi huffed behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I realize Naoto is out of character. And she will remain out of character for another chapter or two. (Which are hard to write, because I do not much like her this way...)  
> Reason being: I am trying to stick close to Shortest Distance and zero-damage did outline how ... difficult Naoto is being after her rescue. Girl has some things to work out right now, and tired, exhausted, worn Naoto does not make for a cuddly companion. I mean, you HAVE met her shadow, right? ^^


	17. Chapter Seventeen - Interlude One - Kanji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After bringing the Detective Prince home, Kanji's mind is racing trying to keep up with everything that happened. Thankfully, friends and family can help him come to grips with the situation.

Once outside, Kanji stopped, looking back over his shoulder. He didn't usually come to this part of town. Inaba was no huge city or nothing, and he didn't like these cubes of living space.

Still. Up there, on the fourth floor, was Naoto. And he had been in the TV world for two weeks. Was he really gonna be okay?

"Kanji- _kun_! Come  _on_ , it's late already, I don't want to be in more trouble with Grandma than I really need to be!"

His eyes remained glued to the building as Kanji turned. He moved into Rise's direction, gaze lingering on the building - and promptly walked into her.

"Hey! Watch it, you lug!" She slapped his arm lightly, but smiled. "You're worried, hm?"

"Yeah... I-I mean, no!" He shot the idol a glare and started to quickly walk back towards town. "Why sould I be worried? Yukiko-senpai is up there. An'-an' the killer never tried any a' us a second time. Yeah. And... Naoto's a tough guy, he'll be-"

"Naoto  _is_ tough, Kanji. Quit being stupid." For all he cared, her voice was way too soft while she said that.

Kanji grunted and kept the rest of his toughts to himself. Naoto was tough, but he always really wanted to be in charge of things. Yukiko was not going to let him get away with a lot of that stuff. Man, had she really thrown him into... her. Had thrown her into bed. Yukiko would never have stayed by herself in a boy's apartment, never mind his bedroom. He shook his head. Her. Need to remember that. Not him.

Rise slipped her arms around one of his and skipped along to his reaching stride. She never seriously flirted with him, a'course, but when they started bein'- ... _well, friends, I suppose_? Anyhow, she seemed to like hangin' off his arm, at least while Yu-senpai wasn't around. He'd grown used to it by now. A little. Her stream of chatter fulled his ears with a steady hum and he couldn't even pretend that he cared for a word she said.

'Stop being stupid.' Was he being stupid? The kid had been barely able to walk out of the TV oh his own. He actually had not managed to walk home without help. Kanji himself and Rise, the only two he could compare against, hadn't been in as bad-

A finger was pointedly pushed into his arm, making him flinch. "I asked you a question, Kanji-kun!" She frowned up at him, but then her expression changed, now slightly worried. She let go of his arm and skipped in front of him for a moment, walking backwards. "Hey. Are you okay? You've been grumpy. Well, more so then you usually are, anyhow."

He blinked. Rise. Yes. "I'm okay." He hesitated. "I think I'm okay."

She looked up at him with those large eyes and just waited as they walked. With a twirl she was at his side again. Her arms returned, both of them snaking around his, holding on to him.

She would not press this, Kanji knew. She would either wait him out or simply start poking at this at a later time.  _Like in front of Naoto. Shit._

"Damnit, Rise! No, I'm not okay, okay?" He ran his free hand through his hair and shook his head. "We took too long. Way, way too long. You looked pretty bad when we pulled yer out, but even you didn't need ta be carried. Naoto was close ta slipping off my back in between kicking an' punching me." He kicked a piece of trash on the ground. Frowned. Picked it up and tossed it in a nearby trash can. Some people could be such slobs.

She still hadn't said anything, simply watching him as he ranted and played local trashman.

"Matter o'fact," he ranted on his free arm making a wide gesture, "I think if not for him-" the idol took a breath to interrupt him, "her, ugh,  _yes_ Rise, if not for  _her_ distrecting herself with kicking me, she might have just fallen asleep, or maybe passed out or some shit." He sighed deeply and shortened his steps before continuing. "This isn't like before. This isn't like when we came ta get ya. This whole damned thing is way more shitty."

He still felt her light hands on his arm. They walked in silence for a while, before he lifted his free hand, rubbing the warming back of his neck.

"S-Sorry. Didn't mean ta swear. It-it just pisses me off, ya know? I already felt like we may have been too late when we came for you. Naoto had to wait even longer. We should'a hurried, gotten better, taken care of this thing right away."

He felt his arm being hugged tightly and Kanji turned his head to look down. Rise looked up at him with gentle eyes and weird look on her face he had not seen on her before. "You really care." They stopped and a smile lit up her face.

Kanji frowned, then blushed furiously.  _This again?_  "Damnit, Rise, stop trying ta make it sound like all I think about is N-Naoto!" He started to walk again.  _I'll drag her along if she won't keep up, damnit!_

The idol pulled him short and made him stop again after only a few steps. He hesitated, but looked down at her still. The look she gave him was neither teasing, nor very amused. "No, Kanji- _chan_ , you got it wrong again." He took a breath to yell at her for real, he hated when she or Ted called him that, but the idol just kept going. "I don't just mean Naoto-kun right now. You think about things. You worry about things. I'm not sure any of the others ever even mentioned to me they felt like they could have come for me any quicker, or felt like they even needed to. If they had, no one said anything. So. Thank you."

Kanji didn't know how to reply to that. He looked away from her, his eyes stinging uncomfortably. "'s cool. I mean, you're cool and stuff. 'm sorry ya got stuck so long."

Rise giggled, squeezing him close in a tight hug for a moment. "You're pretty cool, too, Moronji."

"Oh get  _bent_ , Rise..."

 

* * *

 

His Ma was already asleep when Kanji came home. He snuck into his bedroom without turning on any lights and stripped down to shirt and boxers, folding up his clothes before putting them down. Trying really hard to keep his mind blank, all he could see was linked to Naoto. The weird base-like hideout. The shadow - oh shit, that shadow! And then seeing both Naoto lose it like that and looking as if he... she. As if she was about...

His thoughts successfully derailed again and Kanji sighed, sitting down on his futon. He pulled up his legs into sitting cross-legged and just stared at the ground.

Her. Naoto was a girl. Cool, aloof, casual Naoto Shirogane was a chick. A chick who had never treated him like any of the other girls, at that. Never accused him of anything. Only curious. And nice, somehow. Formal. A bit stuffy perhaps, but she never laughed at him or made him feel stupid and stuff.

_Tha's cool. Why wouldn't it be cool? Naoto's Naoto after all._

Somehow that changed everything and nothing at all. He still kept thinking way too much about that kid. Knowing that Naoto was a girl had not shifted his attention closer or further away. And try as he might, Kanji was unsure if that was a good thing or not. Might mean he's not gay, tho he had almost started to agree with his shadow in that regard. Might mean he could go both ways, in the right circumstance. Or ... heck, it might not mean a thing.

He closed his eyes and laid his face in both hands, resting his elbows on his knees.

Why did that mix him up all over again? Was it because he had just gotten used to the idea that, just maybe, he might be into dudes after all? Was it because he had not noticed it? Or was it something else entirely?

Whatever it was, Naoto still seemed to have a luxury apartment in his brain and would not move out. If anything, she had just brought in more boxes and ordered the daily paper.

… Naoto's a girl. Did that make things easier or harder on him then? He was scared to chat up the guy, didn't know is if he woulda liked being friends or… or-something. Naoto bein' a girl could make that easier. Nothin' wrong with a guy wanting ta get to know a girl better. Right?

Kanji groaned.

He rubbed his hands slowly back and forth over his face. Maybe he was thinking about things the wrong way. Maybe Naoto being a dude or a chick was not actually what mattered. But what was wrong then? He could hardly think for the dense crowding of thoughts right now. Everything was a blur.

 _Maybe some meditation shit helps._ Kanji took a few slow breaths and simply allowed his mind to wander.

The picture that immediately leaped at him, yet again, was a tiny, yellow-eyed Naoto, curled up, howling in a deeply personal pain. 'Don't leave me.' 'Why am I always left alone?' 'Why are you always leaving me behind?'. And when he saw the shadow in his mind's eye, it reached out to him, red-rimmed eyes begging for him to reach out in return-

He sat up quickly, laying his head back, blinking at stringing eyes and fighting the immediate lump in his throat.  _Ah, yea, okay, got it. Stop the movie._

Honestly, that actually was his main issue right now. Naoto had it together, man. Dude was cool as ice. Well, except maybe that one time, where Kanji swore the cop actually made hi- _her_ cry. But aside from that, he could hold his own. How could he have such a fucked up Shadow? She.  _Damnit_.

And being alone? That just didn't sound like hi- like Naoto. Didn't want to hang out, like, ever. Even back at the school trip the girls had pretty much forced the kid to come along and most of that time had not exactly looked like h-she,  _ugh!_ , was having fun. And Kanji totally did not remember that because he had his eyes glued on the short detective. Or noticed every move she made. He made? Back then he thought Naoto was a guy, did that matter? Should he think of Naoto as a girl back then, too?

And why being left alone? Who was doing any kind of leaving? He mentioned his granddad not being around, but Kanji had simply assumed Naoto had only meant to stay here for one case an' move on anyhow. Come to Inaba, work, and leave Inaba. Never ta come back. Putting that thought into words actually placed that barbed hook right back in Kanji's gut and jerked hard on his insides.

Kanji shifted around, uncomfortable. Uncrossed his legs. Pulled up his knees. Crossed his legs again. He let his gaze wander, looking around his dark room slowly.

Maybe he was overthinking this again. Like, when his own shadow said he was gay, but then later just said "Someone, anyone please accept me!" and it totally wasn't about being gay at all. Well, not only about being gay. Maybe, seeing what happened with Naoto-  _GAH!_

Even his own thinking didn't allow him to keep it together. That wasn't what he meant, damnit. More like, when he looked at his shadow, and it didn't actually want to be with guys.. Just thought that being with guys would be easier, because they don't talk as much shit. But then, being gay would mean he just got a different kind of issues dealt.

No. Naoto. What he meant was: Maybe that was a similar deal right now as well. Not that he had fully found out what his own shadow actually meant to say, either. Maybe the guys' shadow didn't mean he wanted to be a guy, not really. Just, that… like, maybe Naoto's Shadow thought being a guy would be easier, just like Kanji's Shadow thought being gay would be the better way. Yeah, that's what he meant. Maybe.

Kanji grunted and put his chin on his fist. He wasn't nearly smart enough to think about what anyone's' shadow actually did or did not mean.

He hadn't talked to the others about their shadows, but his own had been a pushover compared to Naoto's. He decked his faffy ass himself, straight in the kisser. But Naoto... h-her,  _her, damnit_ , her shadow was unnerving. One moment it would cry and whimper in a way that make his gut lurch and make him run over and hug it. But then, in the next, the tears were gone and there was that creepy, unfriendly smile. His own shadow had said some pretty weird stuff, but Naoto's was just hurtful.

And she had been in there with it for weeks. Shit.

What would that have done to her? She seemed in really bad shape when they got her out. Like, really bad. She was tryin' ta act all tough, o'course, but he had seen her trying to bullshit her way out of a similar situation a few weeks ago with that cop. Naoto wasn't quite as fickle as that shadow, but not the cool, collected detective, either.

He pulled his legs up again, crossing his arms on top of his knees. Outside his window, Inaba lay quiet. He couldn't even hear anyone drunk out there tonight. Good. Meant he didn't need to bust someone's lip when they woke up ma. He'd get in trouble with his senpai.

His chin sank on his arms slowly. Would get himself in trouble with Naoto, too. She had been oddly rough when they brought her home. Like, not at all like she  _should ha'been_.

That actually also was on his mind, come to think of it. Rise had been able to walk out on her own, and he was sure the others didn't have problems, either. They never mentioned at least. Based on how Chie-senpai and Yukiko had reacted, it wasn't what they had expected. But Naoto  _tough-cool-on-the-case-junior-detective_ Shirogane, had collapsed several times before he'd had it, picked her up an'-

And ... carried... on his back. Felt her breathe. Her chest to his back and-

Kanji jumped up, rushed to his desk and grabbed some tissue paper to press to his face.  _This better be another growth spurt!_  No, having her snuggled to his back didn't matter at all in this; this had nothing to do with the guy... chick...  _whatever_ , had nothing to do with suddenly remembering the warmth on his own back, and,  _damnit_ , even her weak punches and kicks made him flush all over again now and-

 _Fuckin'_ stop _it, Tatsumi!_

After cussing himself out a while and Take-Mikazuchi helpfully providing annoyed rumbles, Kanji tossed away the stained tissues and grunted.

He sat down at his desk and turned on the lamp. This is stupid. _Fine. If I'm not gonna get any sleep, might as well do something fun._

Kanji picked up his coloured pencils, doodeling onto a rough-drawn mannequin an azure blue trench coat.

Even while drawing, his mind wouldn't stop. How had it affected Naoto to be locked up with that crazed shadow for two weeks? How long would these two weeks have felt? Kid seemed confused, saying they had only talked yesterday or the day before. What had it done to her? Had it perhaps experimented some already?

He stopped his coloured pencil when he realized he was adding a blue cap to the outfit. With a grunt of disgust he pushed himself back from the desk and leaned his arms on his knees, clasping his hands.

What does it mean about the kid? What does a shadow like that  _mean_? Are shadows the opposite of shit? Like, Rise does not want to be a stripper, not really, and he sure as hell does not want to hang out in bath houses. But if Naoto's shadow said "Don't leave me alone", does it mean it wants to be left alone? And at the same time not? And what about that mean, creepy shit it pulled. Does it want to be mean but somehow won't be? Sure, Naoto could be pretty fuckin' rude, but maybe that was simply on accident?

How could that shadow on one hand be so … so damned scared and on the other so scary? So hurtful and so hurting? So weak and so damned strong? There's no way to find out what the hell it wants, because it does both things at the same time!

 _I'm not smart enough for this, damnit. How can I even consider helpin' Naoto when I cannot damned well understand 'im? …her. And why the_ hell _was it so hard to remember Naoto's a chick?!_

There was a quiet tap on his door and he slowly lifted his head. He had previously heard the soft groan of wood as his mom slipped out of her room and through the hallway. "Yeah, Ma, I'm up."

The door opened and his mother peered in through the crack. "It is very late, Kanji-chan... Did you remember some homework? Why are you at your desk then?" she added after he shook his head.

"I'unno. Can't sleep, I guess. Too much stuff goin' on."

She pushed the door open a bit father and leaned with her shoulder against the door frame, clasping her hands in front of her. "What stuff? Maybe I can help. I've been around a while, you know."

"Damnit, you ain't old, Ma!"

"I never said I am, Kanji-chan." She smiled her warm, fond smile, and Kanji felt six years old again, as he always did when she smiled like that.  _Old bat would just wait like that till he cracked. Not say anything, but not go the hell away, either. But maybe talking to her could help with this._

"There is- You see, in school..."  _How do I put this?_  Kanji frowned at the floor. Ma wasn't offering help, so he had to either put up or shut up. He chickened out. "It's nothing."

"Dear, it must be something." He grunted, shaking his head, but she went on, "Because it is two in the morning and you look tired but say you cannot sleep."

He cracked his knuckles, trying to somehow untangle the knots in his stomach and brain at the same time. Putting thoughts into words always felt so much harder than it rightfully should, in his opinion. An' talking to ma was like talking to anyone he really liked. It was  _hard_.

"There is a kid in school, in my grade, see? Like, not in my class, but I see him now and again."  _Can't tell her I'm thinking about a girl in the middle of the night, she'd get all kinds of wrong ideas._  „I- I found out something... Like, something really shitty happened to him." His fingers retangled, matching his confused thoughts. "Like, only today." He frowned at the floor and stretched out his neck, pulling his head to the left and right, letting the bones creak. "I thought he's so strong and all... you know. Cool?" When he looked up to see if she could follow that, he saw how she nodded, listening closely. He swallowed, and looked back at his hands. "But then- then this thing happened... a-and I saw a totally different side of him."

"And that bothers you?"

"Well... I think so, yeah. I mean, it wasn't really like him, sort of thing."

"We're all different from time to time, Kanji-chan. Those bikers would not believe me if I told them you make a great breakfast." As he flushed, she added fondly, "Well, when you remember, anyway."

"Ma!"

"I'm sorry, Kanji-chan." She chuckled, hiding her smile behind her hand, as she always did. Then her expression turned serious again. "Hm. So that boy was different. Was he mean to you?"

"Na. More, like, mean to himself, I think."

At this, his mother gazed towards the table and smiled, demurely clasping her hands again. "That is so like you."

He looked up at his Ma, frowning. "Whaddaya mean?"

"Your deep empathy for others. You see someone who is not even a dear friend, it seems, be in trouble or not feeling well, and it bothers you deeply enough that you lose sleep over it." She turned her eyes back on him, her smile fading. "Have others noticed it as well? Was it something in the direction of a public outburst?"

"N-no... I mean, maybe... someone could have seen, I guess." Could others have seen that shit if they had watched the Midnight Channel? Damn, he had not even thought about that whole mess yet.

"Well, if no one else noticed how bad that boy is feeling, then you can either help keep it a secret, or you could talk to him. Help him through the hard times he must be having."

Kanji gaped. Talk. To Naoto. Him. _'So, uh, I noticed your Shadow wanted to hold hands with you while drilling holes in your head. How fucked up was that, eh?'_

"I dun' think I can do that. He doesn't know me. I mean, he kinda does. I think we get along. I mean I hope we- argh! Anyhow, it's not like we're friends or nothin'." He looked to the ground, dry-washing his hands. "I'unno even if he would wanna talk..."

After a while of silence, his mother shifted her weight, one hand reaching for the handle of his door. "Well, I am glad you noticed he might need help. And I know you'll help if it feels right. You will do the right thing either way, dear." He nodded mutely. "Now. Try to sleep soon, Kanji-chan."

"Yeah. Night, Ma. An'... Eer, you know. Thanks."

"Goodnight, dear." The door shut and he heard her walk back to her room.

 _Empathy_. He wasn't really sure what his mom meant by that, because he knew he couldn't read minds. But she said he would help once he knew how.

Maybe that was why he was up, really. He wanted to find out how he could help.

But how could anyone help with what he had seen tonight?

Damnit, he needed someone much smarter to talk to. Maybe someone like Yukiko or Yu-senpai.

He turned the lamp off and slouched back into his futon. Hugging his pillow under his chin, he blinked into the darkness.  _Hell, Naoto. Why do you keep causing me sleepless nights still? I thought once we get you outa there, things would make more sense. Or at least I'd make more sense._

He let his head sink forward, his chin cradled in the pillow above his crossed arms. Maybe he could start with something simple. Like, offer to hang out at school. Yeah. Just, you know, two guys hanging- No. Not a guy. Naoto was a chick. That would mean even the excuse of 'just two guys hanging out' would not work any longer.

Or maybe it could? Maybe Naoto would prefer if they pretended nothing had happened. That would make hanging out with her easy. Maybe. As long as he didn't stare at her too much.

 _Enough already!_  Naoto was home safe. Yukiko-senpai was with her. He should at least sleep a few hours.

Kanji shifted around on the futon for a while longer, cussing himself out whenever a stray thought tried to probe the subject of the Detective Prince, before sleep finally came.


	18. Chapter Eightteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very exhausted Naoto is struggling to fight her weakened body and mind while at the same time trying to understand why these irritating teens just won't leave her be...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Taking place directly after chapter 13, interlude 3 of Shortest Distance, you may want to go refresh your memory, as I am taking queues from that chapter here.)

**September 25th 2011**

 

Naoto shot up from her bed with a scream. The nightmare had her heart pounding, her cheeks wet with tears, her pillow and bed feeling clammy with moisture.

 Rough sobs grabbed her and she let herself fall back, exhausted and helpless.

 Echoes of her dreams tentatively reached for her awake consciousness. They presented these images yet again to her… The clone, the _shadow_ , had insisted they all undergo alterations. The teens had rushed in and were at once shackled and confined. Weak and helpless she watched as those who had rushed in to save her were experimented on and-

  _stopitstopityouaresafe_

 The thought had sprung out of nowhere. No, not quite out of nowhere. What she had thought was ringing in her ears had come together to almost form words. Also… Since when had she started to think of herself in second person?

  _lookaroundthisishome_

 She clenched her eyes shut for a moment taking a deep breath. _No shadow, no neon lights, no noxious fumes…_ and opened her eyes to her darkened room. Her bed. Her home.

 And to a soft knock on her bedroom door. "Naoto-kun? Are you alright?"

 Yukiko-senpai. Of course. She was not alone. The older girl had chosen to remain behind, watching over her.

 "Yu-kiko… senpai?" She sounded awful. Her voice was raspy and she now perceived nearly painfully chapped lips as she tried to speak.

 "I have made us some tea. Would you like to join me, or should I bring you some tea to your bed?"

 With the first relief of the presence of another human being vanishing, Naoto felt exasperation rise once more. Amagi-san had not yet left. Had she been here all night? What time was it now? And where had she stayed in that time? Had she _watched_ her sleep?

 With the immediate panic of the dream being pushed aside, the detective also started to feel her poor physical condition report back in. The headache was crushing, just about every muscle in her body complained about dull aches and she felt unable to even sit up a second time.

 "Naoto?" The other teen’s voice was quieter now, or it seemed to be.

 Going in a vicious circle, the weakness of her body summoned the recent images of her nightmare back. The experiments. Drills, scalpels, agonized moans and screams. And it was her face, beset with golden eyes, gleefully executing-

 "Yuk-Yuki-..." Focus was fleeting. An inexplicable panic tried to close her throat; tried to choke her here and now. Naoto felt a shiver grab her, hard enough to shake her alongside with the bed she was trapped in. "Y-Yuk... _senpai!_ " That last word was an agonized, high-pitched plea. She had up until now only used the term in an almost mocking fashion. How could mere teenagers be her better? But right now, she needed to grasp at the authority of a person who claimed she knew what was happening.

 The door flew open and Yukiko Amagi rushed in, her face a mixture of fear and worry.

 The younger girl tried to move, wanting to sit up, but the shivers would not let her even lift an arm. She'd have settled for any type of control right then, but nothing came. All she could do was gaze up with panicked, tear-filled eyes at her senpai, whom she hardly knew, bearing down on her.

 Her bed dipped as she sat beside her, her hands trying to gently hold her arms, her shoulders, moving back and forth over her writhing body. "Shhh, it's okay, Naoto, we all went through this..." Yukiko pressed her lips together, trailing off, then tried to give the shivering girl an encouraging smile. "Nearly all of us, anyhow. Oh dear. Shhh... shhh..." Slowly the older girl slid her arms under and around Naoto's body and pulled her up; pulled her in to a tight embrace.

 Naoto Shirogane, Junior Detective, the Detective Prince of the proud line of Shirogane, felt a strong, comforting hug envelop her. Her shivers only grew worse at the physical touch, distressed at the combined feelings of comfort and constraint.

 "Y-Yuk-.. _sen_ -"

 "I know. I am here. I am not going anywhere." The strong, calm presence of the girl felt like an anchor in the chaos that tried to sweep her up. She had experienced Yukiko Amagi in such a capable and contrasting light this night.

 And then there was a sound she thought she was incapable of making. Naoto _mewled_ out loud. The sound was the compressed wail of a frightened child and had nothing to do with either a young woman, or a young man. Loud, choking sobs burst from her; the shakes trying to shift her out of the arms which held her. Desperate hands clutched at the red cardigan in front of her, and all she wanted, all she could think of, was trying to shrink in on herself and be held forever.

 “It-It… tried to hurt…! A-And...!” Between sobs and shakes, Naoto could not even string two sentences together. Worse, she could not even make herself believe she cared. Her pride was discarded and pure, raw fear held on to her just as tightly as the older girl.

 She could not hear the sigh, but felt it in the chest of the girl holding her, felt it in the breath brushing over her cheek. Close to her ear, she heard her senpai murmur to her. "There we are... yes... yes, Naoto-kun... Let go. Let it go, Naoto-kun. It will be okay. The nightmares will fade. You will be alright, I promise..."

 Naoto's arms jerked away. Then returned; clamped around Amagi’s waist like vices. "It-It t-tried to hu-hurt you! I-I could not-! T-Tried to stop it... buh-but-! "

 Her senpai shifted closer to her, holding her shaking frame tightly. One arm had remained free, and she used it to stroke short, wild tufts of cobalt hair. "It did not hurt us. _You_ did not hurt us. Everyone's alright... shhh... everyone is all right..."

  _...everyoneisalright…_

 Naoto sobbed and shivered, holding on to her older girl as if for dear life. For how long, she had no recollection. She only realized it was a while once she noticed how tired her arms felt when she finally released her death-grip slowly.

 Yukiko also let go, leaning back a bit, stroking Naoto’s hair carefully from her face and behind her ears. In turn, the younger girl saw the red streaks down her _senpai’s_ face; noticed the reddened eyes. _She, too, had been crying. Crying with me_. Struggling to fill her lungs with enough air, she finally managed to thank her, punctuated by hiccups.

 "Like I said, we have been through the same. I feel bad for Yosuke-kun and Chie-chan. They had no help. And both won't tell me if they had nightmares..."

 Naoto's deep sobs had stirred her stomach up yet again. She felt the unease of nausea rise up.

 Amagi stopped herself, looked at Naoto, tilted her head, and got up from the bed, making room. "Go."

 Naoto bolted past her to the bathroom once more, her empty stomach heaving painfully. She still did not understand what was happening to her. Was she poisoned? Should she perhaps find professional help after all?

 A cup was pushed into her field of vision. "Water will help, trust me."

 Well, at least that took care of the _dry_ heaving.

 When she had returned to her bed with the help of Yukiko-senpai, Naoto realized a few more things about her situation. She was not wearing her binder.She was in pyjamas, but wearing boxer-briefs. At some point she had changed her attire - or had been changed. She silently send a prayer to the heavens above that it had been the former.

 Her senpai vanished briefly and reappeared at her side with a new cup in hand. "Here, have some tea. You need to drink. I thinned it down a bit, we don't want to upset your stomach already again."

 She hovered over Naoto, one hand near her as if she expected her to drop the cup. Which she almost did, after draining it fully.

 "Another?"

 She shook her head.

 "Okay. Sleep some more. Chie is covering for us at school, so I can stay a while longer."

 "... _hn_ pai?"

 "Yes, Naoto-kun?"

 But Naoto had not managed to keep awake long enough to continue her thought or put the questions on her mind into words before she drifted off again.

 

* * *

 

Light fell through the open door to her bedroom when Naoto woke up again.

A mild headache lingered behind her eyes; the dull throb reminding her she was likely dehydrated.

The detective gingerly sat up, crossing her legs. Naoto leaned forward, rubbing at dry eyes with a small sigh.

She heard soft footsteps come to a halt by the door frame. "How are you feeling?"

_Amagi-senpai. She was still here then._

"Worn. But much better. I thank you for your concern for me. It really was not necessary."

She heard the older girl sigh and enter the room. She placed something on her bedside table and handed her a moist, warm cloth.

The young detective took it gingerly, but giving her a confused look.

"You...," Amagi folded her hands in front of herself and lowered her eyes; not meeting her kōhai’s gaze. "You must have had more nightmares. You cried a fair bit." As Naoto spluttered, trying to formulate some form of protest, Amagi turned and left them room. "The moist heat will help a bit with the … you know, how your eyes feel right now."

Naoto clenched a fist around the washcloth, stopping the moment she noticed she was wringing it out into her comforter by doing so. No one should ever see her like this. No one had seen her cry in … in years. Possibly? _Had Tatsumi-san seen me cry that night?_ If he had, he would not tell anyone. He wouldn’t. He simply was not the type to … well, not the type to seek out communication for one. Would Amagi-san tell anyone?

_Stop being childish! At least you can accept the provided help and show some manners, Shirogane._

"Thank you..." she muttered and unfolded the cloth, gently rubbing her eyes and cheeks. Amagi-san was correct; the dryness eased at once and she felt a mild relief from the itchiness the high amount of saline had caused. After enjoying the ease which the vanishing irritation brought she turned to pick up the cup. Warm, not hot, tea. She sipped carefully and found it very watery. Possibly not a bad thing, though. She felt queasy as she drank, adding caffeine to irritate her stomach was possibly an unhealthy notion.

Naoto got up, bringing the cup and cloth with her. Amagi sat on the couch, her feet pulled up and tucked under; a slim volume of Arthur Conan Doyle in her hands. As Naoto walked over to join her, she looked up in surprise. "Naoto-kun? Did you need anything?"

"Yes. I needed to get up. My back... I-I am starting to feel sore, just lying down." She lowered her gaze and shifted uncomfortably. Just how long has she been sleeping?

Amagi nodded and patted the couch beside her, getting up. "Well, have a seat here at least. Let me bring some more tea. You must be so thirsty."

The younger girl nodded and quietly replied, "Yes, I do seem quite dehydrated. Actually, that would also explain the continuous headache I’ve been trying to content with. I may actually be in need of some acetylsalicylic acid."

From the kitchen she heard Amagi raise her voice to reply. "Sorry, you need some what?"

"The brand name commonly known is Aspirin. It is a blood thinner and should help with a dehydration-induced headache the best." Naoto looked down at the couch. She wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to sit down with her senpai. In truth, as she had pondered previously, she hardly knew these teens. And yet, this was her home. She should be able to make herself comfortable in her own four walls.

 "Ah, okay, where do you keep it? Do you have a medicine cabinet in the bathroom?"

 "No, well, yes, I do, but I do not keep medicinal material there. You’ll find a package in the second cupboard on your left in the kitchen.”

 Amagi turned to look over her shoulder at her through the kitchen door. "You keep it in here? A morning ritual of yours?"

 Naoto pressed her lips into a narrow line. "It is not a common breakfast item in my home if you are implying that."

 She sat down on one of the far ends and pulled a throw over her legs. By the sunlight shining in from outside it was well past noon, the rays reaching inside slowly turning golden.

 Why was Amagi still here? She had remained, not just through the night, but apparently most of the day and appeared to have been awake in between as well.

 Naoto frowned at the low table in front of her. She wanted to be alone. She needed to figure things out. She needed to start gathering evidence, prepare interviews, and ask these teens questions. She needed to learn more about what happened to her and she needed to _stop yawning_.

 Amagi-san returned, kneeling in a fluent motion beside the couch as she offered Naoto a tray to pick up her cup. Naoto hid another yawn behind a fist and picked up the offered tea and the tablet beside it.

 "You look a little better. Do you think you can stomach any food yet?"

 With a hard swallow she fought the lurch which her stomach gave her at the mention of food. "No, I think I will be quite pleased with just tea for now."

 Amagi settled on her knees, placing the tray under the small coffee table and picked up her own cup. She sipped her own tea in silence and, unlike most of the other teens, she seemed perfectly happy to just remain there, kneeling, focussed on her tea. No questions asked, no conversation pushed forward. There was no uncomfortable edge to the silence, and she did not seem to feel the need to fill it.

 Inside the mind of the Detective Prince, no such tranquillity showed itself.

 She felt immensely torn between trying to find a means of expelling her _senpai_ from her home; putting her to the question about everything she could tell her of what happened, her condition and what they knew... and asking her to sit closer. The tiny, vulnerable voice inside of her whispered reminders of the embrace earlier today and how much she had needed it, while the mature and logical side of her gruffly accepted that while it _had_ been pleasant, such physical contact was no longer needed.

 She was fine. She did not need a nursemaid.

 That thought still echoed in her head while Amagi carefully pulled the empty cup from her limp hand and pulled the throw blanket over her as she was drifting off to sleep once more.

  

* * *

  

She was curled up on one side, leaning over the edge of the couches’ armrest when she awoke. Orange-red light filtered into her living room from the living room window, while white-yellow light shone in from the kitchen.

 Just as she noticed, she heard a voice from within. A female? “Ooo-ho-ho man, I’m starved. I forgot to eat lunch, I was so worried!” She heard hands clapped together, a polite prayer uttered and then quiet for a little while.

 “Thank you for bringing us food, Chie-chan. I admit, I had forgotten to eat myself.” Some rustling. Then, after a moment, “Oh, no, what is all this? I cannot possibly eat that much food, Chie!”

 The voice of Satonaka picked up again. “I talked Aika-chan into letting me buy mega beef bowls! I still wanna try to find the secret of beating it, and I wouldn't be surprised if Naoto-chan would eat a whole one after being trapped for two- “

 A hushing sound. “Don’t! She doesn’t yet know. “

 “What? You mean that she-“ Another urgent hiss. “Why? You’ve not told her?”

 “I was… well, it was a busy night. There was no time to bring it up.”

 Naoto shifted, turning her head to try and see more. Her head no longer hurt, but it felt stuffed with cotton. Every thought felt ponderous and slow. Moving was a chore as well. Each and every muscle either hurt as if under unseen strain or quivered as if trying to even make her sit upright was a herculean effort.

 “Ohmp? Wha? Wha’ppmd?”

 “ _Ngh_. Chie-chan, please, swallow your food…”

 An audible gulp. Then, “Oh, sorry, Yuki. I meant why, what happened?”

 There was no reply for a short while, a soft clap, a murmur, then, “Naoto-kun seems to-“

 “Shouldn’t we say Naoto-chan now?”

 Naoto winced.

 “I am not sure. She seems to prefer a slightly more formal address and I am used to Naoto-kun anyway. She has not asked me to change that, so for now, I’m not.” A brief pause. “As I was saying, Naoto-kun suffers from rather bad nightmares. Sometimes she doesn’t even wake up when I walk over to her and try to nudge her awake, but she usually settled down after, so I hope I can at least stop her dreams.”

 “Oh man, that’s no good. Did she say anything?”

 There was tense silence for a little while. Naoto toyed with the idea of getting up, but she had a feeling that would cut any further conversation quite short. A conversation the Detective Prince was rather interested in. She shifted a little, keeping her eyes closed.

 Amagi spoke up again. “Not really. She woke up once, early this morning. She actually woke me with a scream. When I checked on her, she was… It… Hm. I don’t know how to say it.”

  _Lamentable? Paltry? Wretched? Pathetic?_ Naoto started to bitterly provide one option after the next in her mind.

 “It was pretty heart-breaking. She … No. She didn’t say much. Let’s leave it at that.”

 The following silence was filled by the sounds of two girls standing in her kitchen, silently eating.

 The junior detective felt an immeasurable amount of gratitude for Amagi-senpai. She could have said what she saw. Could have given all the details. And she chose not to, chose to simply keep her counsel on the matter, for the most part.

 She decided to officially awaken.

 As she sat up and moved the throw aside, she saw Satonaka-senpai lean backwards, peering around the corner of the door frame. “Oh, hey Naoto-kun! Slept okay?”

 “If by that you mean if I am rested, I feel like more sleep will not actually bring the desired effect.”

 Her _senpais’_ eyes went glassy a moment, then she shrugged and held up a package of take-out food. “Hungry? I brought dinner!”

 “That is very considerate of you, Satonaka-senpai, but-“

 “Oh come, call me Chie! No need to be all formal with me.” The smile she gave Naoto was easy, free, and _careless_ in the sense that there was no care connected to it.

 Naoto felt her own lips twitch in sympathy, but she contented with shaking her head. “I fear I am not yet able to consume much food. But the thought is indeed appreciated.”

 “Aw, I’m sorry. Man, I didn’t think it would be this bad, even after seeing you last night.”

 Naoto got up slowly, forcing her muscles to cease trembling and carry her into the kitchen. Again her upbringing and echoes of Yakushiji-san reminded her of her manners. “You should eat in the living room, senpai.”

 Amagi-san spoke up after the girls exchanged glances. “We didn’t want to bother you, so we-“

 “Please. I insist. You… are my guests after all. Correct?”

 “Sure!” Satonaka gathered up her food and walked past Naoto into the living room without a moments hesitation.

 “There is more tea, too, if you’d like, Naoto-kun,” Amagi said, as she walked to sit by the low table in the living room.

 The younger girl nodded dumbly, looking around her small kitchen.

 She picked up the third take-out box and opened it. A generous portion of _gyūdon_ , extra sauce and an egg. It was certainly acceptable, but she only felt slight queasiness at the sight of the food. Putting it into the fridge for later, she decided instead to simply pick up a cup of tea and return to the living room.

 The other two girls sat closely together, chatting quietly. She took a seat on the couch to hear Amagi say, “…so if you could stay here tonight, I am sure we can find someone to take the days after that.”

 Naoto stopped, turning to face them. _Enough_.

 “While I do certainly appreciate your concern, and, Amagi-san, am gratified that you would take time to look after me, I would need to point out that you have your own homes to return to.”

 “Sure. So?” Satonaka punctuated that question with another mouth full of food.

 “I mean to say, with gratitude, that you need not concern yourselves any longer. I am, as you can see for yourselves, able to-“

 “Oh, Naoto-kun.” Satonaka grinned at her. “It’s kinda annoying how you try to talk us out of being your friends. But also real cute!”

  _‘Friends_?’

  _friends_

 The word carried no immediate meaning to her. Were they being friends by hanging out with her? She wasn’t sure that would be what friendship should be. Giving up on the comfort of home, giving up on the comforts of your own bed. And what for?

 There must be another reason for them being here, but whichever it was, she felt unsure if she could glean it. She still felt bone-tired and it rapidly felt like simply remaining upright was a gamble.

 “I see,” she said while not actually understanding. A white lie to let her continue this fight later.

 Naoto slipped onto the couch and slowly pulled the throw back over her legs. Her eyes wandered to her senpai as they chatted and slowly unfocussed.

 While the friends shared their meal, she dozed off again.

 

* * *

 

 She struggled out of a fitful dream when someone shook her by the shoulder. Spluttering incoherently, she opened her eyes to the slightly concerned face of Satonaka.

 “Hey… Naoto-kun? Come on, you cannot be comfortable like that.”

 She struggled up, or, well attempted to. She must have slipped off the arm rest and curled up. _Just how much more embarrassing can this day become before it is finally over?_

 “Chie’s right, Naoto-kun. Why don’t you go back to your bed? I know you’re tired. I was tired and I was… I was not as long in the TV world as you were.”

 The pause was noticeable, she had meant to say something else. But try as she might, her thoughts would not fully align. She noticed dimly that she had not gotten the answer that Amagi first meant to give, but even trying to form the question to prompt her once more would not form in her mind.

 What was even more distressing, other things would not align, either. She struggled to push herself into a seated position, but her body fought back. Tiredness and exhaustion collapsed back over her, her eyes slowly slid shut.

 “Come, Naoto-kun, you heard her. You’ll get all stiff and achy if you keep falling asleep on the couch.”

 Naoto slowly opened her eyes and stared at the hand in front of her without comprehension. Someone was with her. That meant someone was in her apartment. Unacceptable. She needed no assistance. “Please leave.”

 “Yeah, no, we talked it over, and you're not getting your way this time. Besides, Yu would kill me. Well, possibly just yell at me. Kanji would kill me.” Satonaka. That was Satonaka-san. “So, please, up and into your own bed. I heard you got a real fancy one, all western style!”

 Something tried to pluck at her thoughts. Kanji? “Why should Tatsumi-san… ” Her thought derailed, tiredness being the only truth in her world at this time. Her eyes fluttered shut on their own.

 She heard a giggle and knew it to be Amagi. Satonaka was the one who once more replied. “Yeah, you’ll figure it out, Detective Prince. Maybe even before he does.”

 “You are mocking me.” Her speech slurred. She knew it. She also knew she could not change it. “As for… your demands. I-I‘d be happy- -comply.” She pinched her eyes shut tightly and snuggled deeper into the blanket. “Can’t.”

 “Mhm, what was that, Naoto-kun?”

 “I… find myself… immobile.”

 She expected a sigh. Or a grunt. Or some more yelling. Something.

 She did not expect being scooped up, blanket and all. “Whoa, Naoto-kun, you weigh nothing!” Satonaka must have picked her up. She giggled, holding her.

 Indignation tried to spark. But when she spoke, it was quiet. “Put me down.”

 “Yeah, she’s not given me any trouble, either.” Amagi again. “Aside from her climbing out of bed each time I put her in.”

 Anger tried to push past indignation. “Please… don’t like… picking up…”

 “But you need your bed. Which is right down this hallway.”

 Anger and indignation fell short as exhaustion got in first. Pressing out a small feeble sob of frustration and impotent anger, Naoto tried to punch Satonaka, who held her safe and close and made moving impossible. As much as she hated being manhandled like this, a deeper part of her relaxed at the touch and let her fall asleep before she was even tucked in.

 

* * *

 

  _Naoto knelt on the floor… no, on the ground. She was outside. She knelt, curled up on the sidewalk at the intersection of the shopping district. She tried to not be seen, and making herself a smaller target seemed logical at first._

_The miscalculation was obvious the moment she realized she attracted unwanted attention in this pose. A hand came to rest on her shoulder and she heard the concerned voices of Amagi and Satonaka. While she knew it was them, and also was certain their voices were concerned, she could not make out their faces or voices._

_Not that it mattered much. They needed to leave. She needed to work, she needed to function on her own, as she always had. They were in her way. They were putting up barriers she could not overcome on her own. “Go away. Just… just go! Everyone goes sooner or later, just do it now!”_

_They backed off, but didn’t go away._

stopit

_She scrambled to her feet, backing away from the intruding stares. The feeling left by the hand on her shoulder reverberated with comfort and agitation. She whirled around, turned again and quick-marched herself away, immediately at the shore of the Samegawa River. She had to reach the bus stop, but somehow got lost and now was here. Right now, that was the way out. The bus stop, then home, then shut the door on them._

 _Another miscalculation. Kujikawa, Hanamura and that slim blonde boy, Teddie, were lined up by the bank. They gave her the same concerned looks, somehow, without having clear faces, and approached her. She tried to run faster, but her legs felt weak. She couldn’t run any further. She needed to run, but she could not. “Go. Just go. Why won’t you_ leave _?” She turned around sharply, her white-lined blue coat whipping with the motion. She grabbed her collar, forcing it to stay up, willing it to be the barrier she had put between herself and the world years ago._

_She had to keep moving. She needed to shake them off. Willing her legs to work, she struggled back up and stumbled into the shipping bay right behind Junes; knowing they would try to still follow. Somehow they were not tired, and they were catching up, even though they simply walked slowly._

stoprunning

_Yu Narukami blocked her way. Stoic, tall, calm. The very image of the alpha male of the group; of their school even. He looked concerned and slightly disappointed. She stopped, falling to her knees before him. She craned her head, trying to look up at him._

_“Naoto. Why are you running from us?”_

_“You’ll leave. I cannot depend on you being there for the long game.”_

_“We came for you. Why would we leave now?”_

_“I am just a sideshow attraction to you and your ilk. You… you’ll only…” She trailed off, lifting her hands to hide her grief-stricken face. Long, oversized white sleeves came along with her raised arm. She choked back a sob, feeling tears slowly soak into the cloth._

_“Let us help you.”_

_“No.”_

_“Let me closer to you.”_

_“N-No… no, you’ll only hurt me.”_

_“We fought for you. Naoto!”_

_Her hands snapped down and she glared up. The teens had surrounded her. Their faces no longer showed concern. They glared._

_Narukami posed before her, a hand reaching for her. Not the hand to help a friend to her feet. The hand a master gives a fallen servant. “Come, Naoto!”_

_“NO!” She jumped to her feet and slapped him. Hard. Right across the face. He just stared._

_She whirled and faced Hanamura. Another slap._

_Kujikawa. Slap._

_Satonaka and Amagi. Two more slaps._

_“JUST LEAVE!”_

_Narukami watched her, looked at the tea cup in his hands, and nodded. “The Detective Prince has spoken. He wishes to be left alone.”_

_They turned and left, dissolving as they went, and Naoto knew at once they would never return._

nononononono

 _“I… I am…” She sank back to her knees._ I am sorry. I do not know how to deal with this. I do not know what to do. I only know being alone.

_Hard, loud sobs then tore from her throat. She wasn’t sure where she was, it was dark, but somehow light was out. A fireplace. Of course. She was at the estate. The huge, looming, mostly-cold Shirogane estate. And no one would be here besides her. She would be trapped here, alone, forever._

_She crouched and pulled the huge white lab coat over herself, seeking to shelter from the world, forever, if needed. She could do it on her own._

_Possibly._

  _Hopefully._

 _…_ maybe _._

  _The crying grew more frantic. She buried her face in her hands once more, soaking the sleeves with her grief._

_And then another pair of hands took her wrists and pulled them forward gently, revealing her hurt to the watchers. She ducked her head down, not wanting to look at the intruder._

_“Tch. You’re too damn reckless. Keep telling people t’leave an’ they will, see?” A moment of silence followed. It was a new voice, but a deeply familiar one at the same time. One she has heard frequently. “Damnit, Naoto. Please stop crying. Here. Lemme help ya.” A voice that sounded different now. Direct. Confident. Overbearingly warm. Comforting._

_Hands tried to push her huge sleeves back and her hands desperately groped, clutching at the hands freeing hers. She held on tightly, sobbing hard. And then flinched away._

_“Y-You’ll leave, t-too.” She could barely speak. Barely breathe. When she lifted her head finally, she saw Kanji Tatsumi kneeling beside her, holding her by her wrists. “Everyone will l-leave me.”_

_“So far, I’ve always come after ya. No matter how hard you push me.” Strong arms scooped her up and held her close. “It’s okay, Naoto. ‘m here, girl.”_

  

* * *

 

 “Oh man… Shh… It’s okay, Naoto. I’m here. I’m right here, girl.”

 The young detective awoke with a start. She was tied up and someone tried to suffocate her. She struggled frantically, but the ropes holding her down were too tight!

  _nocheckagain_

Naoto tried to shove her panic aside. She needed a clearer picture to know how to react to this attack. But it turned out it wasn't one.

_I'm in my bed. Wrapped in blankets. Someone is holding me._

_And I am crying bitterly. Wonderful._

Through her hard sobs, she instinctively attempted to reach for the person holding her, but immediately flinched back as the remnant of a memory showed her the dream image of Tatsumi-san trying to scoop her in his arms, thought the image faded while she was trying to remember it. _Must not get complacent!_  She struggled hard to push away whomever was trying to help her.

"Cut it out, Naoto-kun. You're not feeling well, and the way you held my hand just a moment ago shows it."

Satonaka. She was being held closely in the lap of Chie Satonaka, crying. When would this trial end for her?

"Y-You need to l-leave!"

"Why, Naoto-kun?"

"Eh-Everyone does… Mustn't get kuh-comfortable!" That sob shook her hard enough that Satonaka adjusted her grip.

"Man, Yukiko wasn't kidding," the girl mumbled. Then continued normally, "Naoto-kun, what happened? Was it a nightmare? You were quiet and then, bam!"

"I kuh-cannot-" The girl shuddered once more.

"Remember?"

A hard nod. She only felt being held closely for a while. And then the grip shifted and the hold turned into a rocking motion.

"It was only a dream." The older girl spoke to her softly, carefully. "Whatever it was, it was a dream. I know it frightened you. My own dreams did, too, after…  _that_. But you're not facing this alone."

"Buh-but I-"

"You. Are. Not. Alone."

Naoto gave in. The rocking was too soothing, the voice speaking to her too gentle. And maybe, just maybe, she could allow herself to not be alone. At least for a little while. Just until she felt better.

"Lemme help you."

Naoto heard that phrase and something rang with recognition for a brief moment. Then faltered and slipped away again.

"Let us help you."

The slow rocking continued, even after Naoto had drifted off to sleep again.

  


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final blow is dealt to Naoto and she scrambles to rebuild herself.

 

**September 26th, 2011**

Naoto took the bowl from Chie with a small nod. "Thank you, Satonaka-senpai."

"You know, I really wish you'd call me Chie." The upperclassman planted her fists on both hips and gave the younger girl a bright smile. "I'm not even that much older than you, I think. And out of the two of us, I know who the smarter person is, and it isn't me!"

She turned and headed back into the kitchen. Naoto watched her leave, then frowned at her food. Satonaka-senpai was correct, she needed to eat, even though her stomach still weakly protested against the idea. Her reasoning 'You just feel sick because you're hungry' did not account for the repeated emptying of her stomach the previous night and morning, but she could not argue that remaining without food could only add to her fatigue. _At least I am properly dressed today. What must Amagi-senpai think of me, being around the apartment all day in just my sleepwear?_

Her gaze fell back on the food. Well, it did smell good.

She took the chopsticks between her hands, closed her eyes to say thanks and started to pick through the rather plentiful amount of beef and roasted onion to get to the rice. Gingerly picking at it, she listlessly munched, adding a small strip of beef or onion for flavor here and there.

All the while she was being chattered at. Satonaka-senpai seemed determined that they are friends due to the course of happenings. She learned about the other members of the group, mostly about Amagi-san and Hanamura-san. She learned of her senpai's private enjoyment of physical fitness. She learned of a pet dog and how she would love him - apparently. She learned about the latest school gossip and about the struggles their sports teams faced due to lack of members.

It was a rather one-sided stream of questionable information, as Naoto could not think of anything to contribute on any of the topics herself.

She looked up when she noticed an ebb in the relentless input and looked up. Satonaka-san stood before her shelves, reading the jackets and book ends. "Do you enjoy reading, Satonaka-san?"

"Chie. _Chie_. And, yeah, but, like, more manga and stuff." She picked up something from the mystery section of her shelf and turned the volume over and over in her hand. "I don't have much time to read, so I like if part of the story is already an image, so I don't need to buckle down and think too much, I guess?"

Naoto placed her chopsticks on the rim of her bowl and tucked her legs up beside her. She gave what the girl said some thought. And she had to admit there was a certain logic to it. Reading a book and reading a manga were different, one was absolutely faster. "So your various hobbies keep you too busy to read?"

The other girl slipped the book back and picked up a much thicker volume from her scientific section. "Very, hah! I run at least two hours each day, and not just boring old in-a-circle stuff. You should see me parkour sometime!"

"Parcours?" Naoto pronounced the word in the intended French way, but it did not open any new meaning to her.

"Yeah, where you, you know- Hrm. Have you never heard of city-running? You use the surroundings as obstacles or as assistance to leap somewhere higher?" Her senpai seemed to not notice how she suddenly balanced on the balls of her feet, gently side stepping and nearly hopping left to right.

"That sounds like quite rigorous exercise. It very much explains your build, too."

The hopping stopped and Satonaka turned around slowly, looking quite blank. "My what?"

Naoto shrugged and pointed at her senpai with an open hand. "Your build. Your general physique and athletic statue." The blank look shifted oddly, into mild annoyance, then into surprise and ended up being near a proud gloat. "I can see your hard work. I doubt any of the others in your team could keep up with you. Hanamura-san seems vaguely capable, perhaps, but he would not appear to hold your stamina."

"HAH!" Now she really skipped side-to-side on the spot, her hands raised. "Yosuke can barely dodge what I dish out, he can't keep up with me. Now Kanji, he can."

"Tatsumi-kun?"

"Yeah. He actually sometimes comes out running with me. He's a bit of a lug, but when he gets going, he's not stopping. He's not as light on his feet, but he can run up walls higher than I can, he can do impressive pulls when jumping over tall fences and he usually can keep going longer."

The detective turned her head and stared straight ahead, conjuring up a picture of Kanji Tatsumi. From what she had seen throughout the summer, his upper body strength must be very impressive. His chest and shoulders seemed very well toned and she could easily picture the work and effort he could put forward during physical activities. Pulling his whole body up and over an obstacle was certainly not something that would slow him down much. And his overall frame spoke of well-trained muscle. If he kept his breathing steady, he would have no problem keeping his body well oxygenated.

Chie had stepped in front of her with a sly grin. "Thinking of something?"

"Mhm?" Naoto's eyes focused and she looked up at the girl before her. "I'm sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment."

"Heh, I bet."

"I beg pardon?"

"Well, you're blushing. And Yosuke said when he caught you two in the bathroom back at Escapade, you had made Kanji kneel down for you and-"

The younger girl made a sharp dismissive gesture with her hand. "He was _injured_ , Satonaka-san. Whatever fabrication Hanamura-san made from that, I cannot be held accountable for. I needed to reach a cut on his head and he simply is too tall to do that while he is standing. Unlike any of you, who were supposed to be his compatriots, I actually felt the need to ensure one of my peers was not suffering any possibly severe injuries."

Chie had dropped her crossed arms as Naoto spoke and gave her a surprised look. "Uh, sorry, I was just teasing. And you know what? You're right, I shouldn't have, sorry. Besides, it's Yosuke. He likes to make stories where none are. And back then we thought you were a guy, too, so he just went with it."

"My gender held no bearing at all on my urgent need to care for an injured classmate," Naoto muttered, gazing towards the hands in her lap. "I am not interested in the homophobic tendencies of Yosuke Hanamura."

"Eh, possibly the smart thing to do." The girl looked embarrassed for a moment, then peered at their tea cups. "Hey, you're out of tea again! I told you to let me know, Yukiko will have my hide if I can't get enough liquids into you!"

The younger girl looked up as Chie grabbed her cup and vanished back into the kitchen. How far had _that_ rumor spread? A homo-erotic interest added to the rest of the ever-growing lore about the Detective Prince. Would it be a problem? Harm her? Help her? It could provide relief from the girls trying to 'get with her' and perhaps cause a bit of an ebb from the unwanted attentions of letters and gifts pushed at her.

She also realized that she had been incommunicado for at least three days now. She could consider reaching out to Grampa and see if he had time to reply to her latest email yet.

A knock at the front door pulled her from her thoughts. Before she could even untangle her legs, Satonaka skipped out of the kitchen and ran across to the door. "Got it, got it, stay comfy!"

She head the girl stop at the door, hesitate (possibly looking through the door spy) and make a pleased sound before she opened. "Hey Yu, Rise!" A pause. "Oh, hey Yosuke."

 _Speak of the devil. More visitors._ Naoto sighed. The better she felt, the less it seemed tolerable to have others intrude on her home. And now she wasn't even the one welcoming them in any longer.

"How is she today?"

Naoto leaned forward a bit. She was right here, only meters away, and her senpai causally spoke as if that was no concern of theirs. She could not wait to be back on her own two feet and in proper control of her home. She would start closing doors in their faces.

"Yeah, she's... well." There was movement, then the conversation continued a bit muffled. "Yuki told you, I think, but she's in really bad shape. I mean, Yuki and Rise were nowhere near as exhausted. And ... Hm. Na, she can tell you if she wants, that's not my place."

The detective lifted her head, raising her eyebrows. First Amagi, now Satonaka kept her more embarrassing moments a secret. She had underestimated the girls in that regard.

"Anyways," the other girl continued, possibly from behind the door, "I'm feeding her and trying to get her to drink more, like Yuki asked me. But she's not been much in terms of company, let me tell ya..."

Naoto flinched and clenched her jaw.

"Aw, Chie-senpai, that's mean! She's very private, you _know_ that! Hey, you guys can keep on chatting, I wanna see her!" That sounded absolutely like the bubbly idol.

Who skipped in moments later. "Naoto-kun! How are you doing? Been missing your grumpy face around school!"

"Kujikawa-san," Naoto added drily as a greeting.

The girl plopped herself down in front of the couch and right in front of Naoto. With a radiant, infectious smile, she let her eyes wander over the detective's face for a short while before speaking up. "You know, you really look a lot better, but you do look a bit worn down. Maybe we should get you something healthy. Apples are good when you're ill!"

"I assure you, Kujika-"

"Rise!"

"-wa-san... pardon?"

"Rise! We're pretty much in the same home room, with as many courses as our classes share. You _know_ me, silly. We're not strangers!"

Naoto's mouth opened and closed a few times without bringing out any sound. It would not do! It would not do starting to be on a first name basis with these teens before they even knew one another properly.

_...calledhimkanji..._

And whatever these random thoughts were, that came cloaked in a high-pitched chirp, they could cut it right out, too! Besides. She had previously only addressed him as Kanji-san to ensure he would understand there was no true ill will between them.

"Naoto-kun?"

"I thank you for the offer, but at this time, I believe we should have some professional behaviour set up between one another. I am new to your social network. It would be presumptuous of me."

Satonaka and Narukami entered the living room at that point. The girl was a few steps behind the young man and it seemed like she had a light flush to her cheeks. Naoto _tsked_ to herself. Maybe he had called her out on something and she had Kujikawa let her be distracted. Whatever it was, her chance was past.

With them also walked in another young man. Hanamura's shaggy auburn hair, looking freshly tussled as always, fell past his ears even though he seemed to try and force it back with his hands right now.

"Yo, Naoto-kun!"

"Narukami-senpai, Hanamura-senpai. Welcome." That should suffice. They had invited themselves, they could not truthfully expect her to go out of her way for them. Some minimal politeness might also bring across that they could not make themselves truly at home here.

Where Hanamura immediately wandered around, rudely inspecting her living space, Narukami stepped behind Kujikawa and stopped. She looked back with a giggle, leaning against him. "You look exhausted, Naoto. I heard you have some problems sleeping?" He stopped, giving her an opening to reply.

Naoto looked into his eyes a moment, then ducked away. The shadow of one very rough nightmare welled up, making him glower at her, a demanding hand outstretched...

He continued when she did not speak up. "I know some of the others had problems as well after awakening their Persona."

 _Brief replies. Do not make them welcome._ She settled for a nod. Her eyes wandered to the other boy, who just fished one of her books out of the shelf.

"I also understand you'd rather have us not take care of you."

Another nod, more distinct, still watching Hanamura. And wincing when he stuffed the book back, but in the wrong place.

"I see. You do realize why we cannot do that?" He hunched down on his heels, holding on to Kujikawa's shoulders. She giggled. Naoto gave her a confused and slightly irritated glance. Wasn't she being friendly with Tatsumi-kun...? Narukami had continued speaking and she refocused, trying to keep up. "...to your own devices. We're the only ones who will understand. No police officer, no doctor, no parent can help in this. All we have is each other." He gave the idol's shoulder a squeeze and she happily nodded to Naoto; who in turn watched the interaction with interest. _They are trying to play me. Is this going to be good-cop-bad-cop_?

"He's right, you know," Kujikawa added, as if on cue. "Seriously, can you think of anyone besides us who'd believe you? What would you tell them when they ask you why you were gone or why you're feeling ill? That you were gone for two weeks, stuck in a TV at Jun-"

Naoto shot to her feet. " _What_?"

She heard Satonaka groan "Oh geez, Rise..."; saw Narukami narrow his eyes - and even Hanamura seemed to pause.

Kujikawa looked from one to the other and very quietly said, "Oops."

Naoto patted herself down. _Phone... where is my phone..._ She stumbled out of the living room, into her bedroom and all but fell on the bed, reaching for her night stand. She pulled her phone from its charger and flipped it open.

_Apps... Calendar... oh dear gods._

When she was about to thud hard to the ground, she felt two strong arms catch her and redirect her to her bed. A voice, as if miles away, said "Oh man, I am so sorry, I totally forgot..." while another female voice, familiar, closer, gently showered her with soft words. "Let me just take the phone... there we go, I'll put it right here, okay? You're okay, Naoto-kun. I know this is weird, but trust us, everything is okay, school is taken care of, and we sorted it out. No one reported you missing, Yu checked already. No reason to worry yourself, okay?"

"How... how is that... even remotely possible," she breathed. Naoto stared blankly ahead of her and her thoughts turned into the proverbial 'unstoppable wild horses'. _Weeks? I have been missing for_ weeks _now? How could any person go missing for_ weeks _? How could the police not react to me being missing, being gone from school for this amount of time? They would have known I had been taken by someone. They_ would _have started to look for me! Naoto Shirogane missing during a live investigation, they would not-_

Staring blankly, shuddering all over, she curled up on her side. She heard distorted murmurs, felt light hands pat her here and there, but everything was drowned out in the storm inside of her.

 _Weeks. How is that even feasible? Dehydration would have killed me in that time. Other physical markers would have shown themselves. If it had been weeks, then how can I still function, still reason at all? I should be dead. I should by all rights have ceased to be, seeing I have no memory of consuming nutrients or liquids in my time with the clo- the_ shadow _._

 _Grampa!_ She scrabbled at her bed, her pillow, she had her phone here only a moment ago, where was it?

Hands took her wrists and she heard through her panic a soft voice. The voice said something. And then something ... actually, the same thing, again.

And again, this time with her shoulders being shaken. "NAOTO!"

Taken aback, she tried to squirm out of the grasp, only to have it tighten on her. "Why..."

A hand brushed a pigtail out of her face. "Man, you had us getting real worried this time. You curled up and totally spaced out, as if you were, like, not here."

Naoto stared unseeing into the worried face of Rise Kujikawa before mumbling, "Shock."

"What?"

A calm, male voice spoke from outside her room. "Means she got so startled by what you said, that her mind could not cope and shut down."

"Oh Naoto-kun. I'm so sorry. I thought they had already-

"It is vital that I get in touch with my grampa. Please."

"Sure, sure, uhm, we... we'll be outside."

The detective nodded mutely, then called out: "Thank you, Rise-san," as the girl left the room.

The idol turned and smiled. "Keep callin' me Rise and everything will be okay!" She all but skipped outside.

Naoto listened to the others file out one by one and she heard her door shutting.

_I will not lose control now. I have my home secured and to myself. This all has a logical explanation. I will not overreact…_

Calmly talking to herself, Naoto got up on shaky legs, ignoring the tremor that ran through her deepest core like the plucked string of a harp and walked back into her living room. She slowly knelt before her table. Pulled her laptop out from the drawer underneath it. Plugged in the power cord. Nice and methodically. Each movement calm and with purpose. _This is a misunderstanding and I can easily clear it up._

She stared at the screen of her laptop as it booted. Her lock screen showed the time and date. September 26th, 15:26 o'clock.

After entering her password (twice, due to shaky fingers) she watched the machine start up her email, browser and bookmarked pages, a VPN tool to log into different law enforcement databases and into her server at the estate.

Unread Emails: Two.

Voice Mail directed to home server: Two.

One email contact was from Dojima. One from Grampa.

One voice mail was from a US phone number. One from a local Inaba number, perhaps Dojima as well.

She leaned away from the table and slowly placed her hands on her legs, slumping slightly. Even through the cloth of her slacks could she feel the iciness that all but radiated from her fingers. A lump started to form in her throat, hot tears of anger welled up in her eyes and the tremble inside of her still tried to break free.

She wanted to hide. She wanted to sleep till this nightmare was over. What in the world had she gotten herself _into_? Television sets? Shadows? Mysterious illnesses?

_theycanexplainletthemintheyarewaitingforyou_

_'Be quiet.'_

Naoto wasn't even sure what she was addressing, or if she was speaking to herself. Whichever it was, right now it was distracting her and she needed to focus.

She sat up straight, shifting her feet to have her heels support her and push her up. _I am a Shirogane. I will not be overwhelmed by simple, undeniable facts._

Setting her jaw, a small frown on her forehead, she reached for her laptop. She would deal with Grampa first.

Not reading his email, she didn't trust that lump still trying to build in her throat, she simply opened a new email form and sent him a polite but brief message. She apologized for making him wait, cited non-descriptive involvements and promised an answer soon.

After sending it, she hesitated a moment before copying that message and sending it to Dojima as well. It was simple enough to possibly cover both issues, and if the local detective had found out something thanks to her disappearance, she could still deal with that in a little while.

Her hands came to a rest to each side of her laptop as she stared into thin air, trying to sort out what the next immediate need was.

A knock reminded her that the teens were likely to be outside still. Through the door she heard the sound of a muffled conversation before she tuned them out again. If she waited long enough, chances were they might leave.

All her physical mail is stored at a postal office mail box. She should make plans to check into that.

If she had been missing for two weeks, she could also contact the high school's faculty and inquire after missed lessons. Kujikawa-san had mentioned a cover story, so she first needed to find out what her alibi was.

Further she needed to find out how two full weeks could just up and go missing!

_letthemintheycantellyou_

_'Be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate...'_

The knock repeated, louder, and a muffled voice repeated "Naoto-chan?" followed by a small yelp. _Hanamura. Of course, he could not be trusted to respect my dignity, as already proven in the past._

A second knock, and the raised voice of Satonaka. "Naoto-kun? May we come back in, please?"

The detective closed her eyes and sighed softly. By now it _would_ be rude to ignore them at her door.

She got up and opened the door, her eyes flickering from Hanamura to Satonaka. She saw no one else.

Before she could form the question, Hanamura shrugged. "Rise said she wanted to go study or something and Yu said he had plans, too..."

"I see. Well, if you wish to leave as well..."

A moment of quiet, as Satonaka and Hanamura exchanged glances.

"Well, I had planned to stay here either way," Satonaka started, "not sure if Yosuke wanted to hang out. Might be nice to get to know everyone?" She gave Naoto a hopeful smile.

Naoto crossed her arms. Uncrossed them. Pursed her lips. Eyed the teens. This was her chance to tell them politely but firmly she would prefer privacy. But it was also Satonaka, who had helped her with last night's... unpleasantness. She could also use the time to try and cross-examine the two teens against one another about the questions boiling in her mind about the days she had been missing.

She nodded and stepped aside. "Please. Can I offer you tea?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from the holiday break, and I hope everyone's doing okay. :) Distance Formula is back on schedule now.


	20. Chapter Twenty - Communications Three

Receipt Date: Mon, 26th Sept 2011 20:49:40

Delivered-To: ShiroganeYF

Subject: Re: Inaba

From: Shirogane, Naoto shiroganenaoy@gmail.com

To: Shirogane, Y.F. shiroganeyf@gmail.com

* * *

Good evening Grampa,

Or likely good morning, once this reaches you.

I am very sorry you had been unable to contact me. I am back in Inaba now, though at this time I will not be able to answer any questions regarding my location or investigation of the past few days. It is safe to say I am making progress again thanks to some unanticipated leads and I hope to be able to brief you on my findings speedily. It is picking up definite momentum and I expect being able to share my findings soon.

I am sorry to hear your own case seems to be proceeding haltingly as well. It almost appears as if both of us will have to bear through long hours on our cases. I would like to once more offer my own assistance, but I understand that it would in this instance not be viable.

However, I do understand your English to be very passable, if not near-fluent. Why is it you would require a translator to work with you on this matter? Is it the specific vocabulary used in the case that makes it a necessity?

My endeavor to fit in with my fellow students is currently undergoing an unanticipated boost. At this time, your concern about my growth in that area is unfounded. I have had frequent visitors at my apartment and I am striving to be an upstanding example in being a host during these encounters. I will, of course, also keep you informed on how these ventures proceed, but I am confident, that I will be able to integrate myself in a superior manner into this specific social circle following these visits.

On the subject of Kanji Tatsumi; you must have misunderstood me, Grampa. I had in no means strived to make it appear as if there was anything but a professional interest in his person. I do not believe him being involved in any illicit activities. I might have at some point prior to my last excursion feared his involvement in the Inaba case, but his upstanding behaviour has cleared my mind of previously present doubts. My disappointment in my interactions with him fully stemmed from his refusal to support my investigation, nothing else. I will admit, however, that his insights are likely to have sped up my recent excursion and expedited the conclusion of it. I greatly credit him with the satisfactory outcome of that matter and would be thankful if you were to disregard my previously critical comments about him or his actions. I will need to revise how I place him in the current social network and within my own contacts. I had, as I did mention, planned on utilizing him to help me towards being assimilated by the teens at my school. His assistance would have been to help me blend and mesh with them. I do not anticipate needing to spend more time on his person, especially not now that I seem to have found a means of integration on my own. His assistance in coming affairs will be welcome, no doubt, but there is no desideratum on my part to concentrate a future abundance of time or energy in my relationship concerning Tatsumi-san. He will be a valued fellow student and you may see me mention him in that role in the future.

I am further relieved that you do not feel I have brought our family name into a dissatisfactory light. I will conclude this matter, Grampa, and I will do so with the dignity and worthiness of the Shirogane name.

I cannot promise you a phone call any time soon, but I will endeavor stay in closer contact.

Yours

Naoto


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More unwanted visitors, and this time even unwanted love letters. Naoto explains the nature of the Detective Prince and discovers that having a man cook for her is rather soothing.

**September 27th, 2011**

There had not been another handoff that evening. Satonaka and Hanamura had stayed till the late evening. The conversation with them had been disappointing, and Naoto had wished that Narukami had not left so early. The feeling she got, was that he was the head of their little 'investigation team', as they loved calling themselves. Without him, the rest seemed rather useless.

She had gotten little to no direct information about their situation or the teens involvement in the case. Most of it was being deflected by her unwilling guests and by the time Hanamura left and Satonaka-senpai said that she'd get ready for the night on the couch. Naoto only felt deep irritation.

The shock of having lost the better part of two weeks had cleared the fog of self-loathing and confusion at least. While Satonaka read a manga Hanamura had brought along for her, Naoto withdrew into her bedroom with her case files and paper, writing down anything connected to her own vanishing and noting anything she could remember about the night. It wasn't much, but she had to hold on to it while she still could.

Her night had been restless, but she had not woken up to being cradled by Satonaka-senpai. She'd taken it as a sign that she was regaining control.

Control was important. She needed to take charge of what was happening here. If possible, she actually needed to _take charge_ of this group and steer them into the right way of doing things. They wanted to be an investigation team? They should act like one.

She had asked Satonaka if she could reach out to Narukami to inquire if he could stop by that night to have a frank and open exchange on information. The older girl had hesitated, but after some more pressure conceded to pass along the message. Now all Naoto could do was wait.

Noon came and with it the older girl saying she would nip out to go grab some food. It took some convincing, but Naoto actually managed to have the girl agree to take money from her for the shopping. She wanted to make sure that she wasn't a burden any longer on the group, and she had the means to contribute fairly.

The young detective withdrew into her bedroom shortly after Satonaka had left, putting her scrambled thoughts from last night into order. Or tried to, and failing.

 _All of this lacks logic. If there was a clear pattern, or indeed any semblance of normality, this would have been solved already. Then again if this had any semblance of normality, it would not at all be what it is._ She had endured her 'shadow', had seen, if through the muffled filter of exhaustion, the odd secret base she had been held in. And losing two weeks in what felt like a day at most …

The normality with which the other teens handled this baffled her, too.

How could anyone be this calm about entering a world different from the one that is reality to do combat? They hardly thought anything of it, indeed, Satonaka sounded excited whenever she spoke of it.

If anything, their blasé approach angered her. Any kind of combat needed to be taken seriously and with the care to not injure yourself or anyone near. Could we be certain that other world only held enemies? What if civilians were to be involved? _On that note, they are civilians themselves._

She was not in her best of spirits by the time Satonaka returned. She accepted the takoyaki the other girl had brought and nibbled listlessly on one of the savory morsels.

"Hey, Naoto-kun?"

"Yes, Satona-"

"Chie. Please?"

" _Satonaka-san_. I do not know you, and indeed should be calling you senpai, seeing you are my upperclassman. What is it you wish?"

The girl sighed, licking her steak skewer and putting her take-out box down. "You're so stubborn." Oddly, she said it with a fondness that clashed with the rude comment in Naoto's ears. "So, I'll need to run out and do some errands soon, also need to pick up some school work from a classmate that Yuki didn't see today. I'll be nipping out in a few, and Yuki said she will head here right after school, so I think she'll be here in less than 30 minutes."

"Can I not at all convince you that I do not require babysitting? I have steadily improved over the past few days, have I not?"

"Sure, but that's not really the point. You've got no one looking after you, and if you have a bad spell, who would be here to take care of things? That's right," she said after a small pause and watching Naoto's face fall grim, "no one would notice in time. Please, Naoto-kun." She got up and went on her haunches before her. "Please let us do this for you. We care about you."

The Shirogane heir chewed on her next words for a few moments before she said lowly, "You do not even know me. You know nothing of me."

Satonaka's eyebrows rose and she leaned back, counter-balancing herself with her hands on her knees. "Well, then see it as your _senpai_ feeling responsible for you over a matter that they know more of than you. Maybe your pride can allow that?"

 _Oddly, yes, it could._ Naoto did not like it, indeed, she squeezed her eyes shut a moment and tried to find another solution, another answer than the obvious. But manners had been drilled into her deeply from a young age on and as such all she could say was, "Yes, Satonaka-senpai."

The sporty girl smiled, nodded pleased and jumped to her feet. "Yuki won't be long, so don't feel too lonesome! I'll be back to visit soon, you hear?"

"Yes. Thank you. Um, have a good day."

The second-year gave her a bright smile, then skipped out the door.

Naoto let herself flop onto her couch and sighed. Sadly, the older girl's logic was correct. She could have a relapse and need assistance. As much as she hated it, that relapse could be either physical or psychological, and being alone during either would be uncomfortable at best. She did not wish to ponder a worst-case scenario for this.

It indeed was only a few minutes before Amagi arrived and took over the run of the household, like she did in previous days. She cleaned up after her friend, who had left her box of take-out on the table; started up tea and chattered at Naoto in her friendly, quiet tone.

Sadly she, too, was not up to answering more questions she had about the case. After very few questions she suggested to talk to Narukami about 'all of that' and it was obvious, she would not be available for any further comment.

It did little for Naoto's mood. She had already lost two weeks. She needed answers in order to make any progress in this matter. And to make things worse, those around her who could possibly tell her more all submitted to a single person as line of contact.

In turn, she only had small talk to offer, none of which Naoto had any interest in. So instead, she withdrew into the confinement of her own thoughts, trying to arrange questions and find solutions for other pressing issues.

It was in the middle of this brooding that she heard a knock and saw Amagi rise as if it was normal for her to answer the doors of other people's homes. From along the hallways she heard the conversation.

"Rise-chan, Kanji-kun! Thank you for dropping by." The younger girl sighed. Of all things, she sounded like the manager at an inn welcoming guests.

"Uh... why're you..." At this voice she stopped and looked towards the hallway, not seeing who was there. But even not seeing him she knew it was Tatsumi. Not someone she needed to think about right now.

Amagi continued, answering the unspoken question. "Oh, I've been here an hour already. I came straight after school. Chie had to run an errand and I didn't want to leave Naoto-kun by herself."

The young detective scoffed. _Yes, well, I am sure I do not need a monitoring bracelet just yet, either._

"So, I'm happy you're here. _Very_ happy." _And why does she sound annoyed? She is the one invading my home…_

"No problem! We even brought food." That sounded like the resident idol, who then skipped through the door. "Hey, Naoto-kun!"

"Hello Ku-" she put her hands up at the same moment the other girl pointed at her, "yes, sorry, hello Rise-san."

She _had_ used the more familiar first name before, she knew she would not win a tug-o-war with the personality the girl had. She also sorely regretted that she had let herself give in to that yesterday. As it stood, she would simply need to live with this. Well. Kujikawa was a fellow student. It should be manageable.

Still, she should not make any of them feel too welcome. She needed to wait for Narukami to make his social call and explain what was going on here. These visits, well-intended as they most certainly were, were just a distraction. Rest? She had no time for _rest_ , she needed to push forward, work, and ensure that the case would not grow cold yet again. Frankly, they all should.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she noticed the others file in, but her thoughts on the matter of more teenagers invading her home were none she would need to share at this time.

After an undetermined amount of time, _Rise-san_ seemed to have found a lull in her relentless chatter with their senpai and appeared from the kitchen, stuck to the arm of Kanji Tatsumi. "Kanji-kun wanted to see you too, Naoto-kun," the idol trilled, positively snuggling up to him. "He's sorry for not coming earlier." She flashed him a grin. "And he's really happy you're back." He, in turn, made a startled choking sound.

Naoto was still not entirely sure if the idol's relationship with Tatsumi was a romantic one or not, or if she simply tried to get close to any male, but she disapproved of the public displays of affection.

Still, out of all the other teens, Tatsumi had been the one she would consider closest to her, and their interactions had always been cordial. She compromised to giving him a crisp nod. That would have to do, it was more than she wanted, seeing right now all she wanted was to talk to Narukami.

Kujikawa chuckled, released the young man and skipped to hop on the couch.

Which is where she remained for the next hour or so, chatting up a storm with Amagi.

Naoto spent this time fruitlessly trying to come up with questions and directions for her investigation. Sadly, without her notes to compare and without the ability to add to her notes, she could not make a whole lot of progress in that regard. She attempted a few times to turn the conversation towards her interests, but gave up swiftly in the way the talk was directed all around her.

After what felt like an eternity, Kujikawa jumped to her feet and stretched, giving Naoto a sunshine-bright smile. "Okay, Naoto-kun, we'll be off, but I promise we will be back tomorrow!" Without waiting for a reply, she turned to the tall young man leaning where he had been for the entire time and grabbed his arm. "C'mon, Kanji-kun. Let's go. Chie-senpai's heading back here soon, she'll keep Yukiko-senpai and Naoto company."

Naoto did not need to see them out. Clearly, everyone in their little 'investigation team' considered themselves quite at home in her apartment already and they didn't need her permission or her fare-wells upon leaving.

It was not very long after they had left that Amagi and herself had settled into the very soothing silence that they had groomed and cultivated in the past few weeks. It must not have been for long after this that Satonaka-senpai walked in, carrying a large plastic bag.

"Hiya Yuki, hello Naoto-kun! Hey, I brought you something that should make you smile." She handed her the plastic bag – dropped it in her lap, really – and giggled.

The kohai looked at the short-haired girl, then into the plastic bag. Which was stuffed full with letters. A frown crept on her face and she let her hand rummage aimlessly into the bag and pulled out a hand full of colorful envelopes.

"See, the rumor is that the brilliant Detective Prince has come down very seriously ill. And your adoring fans are worried."

After flinching at that terrible nickname, Naoto started to look through each of the letters in more detail. They were sealed with kisses, heart-stickers, flowery professions of 'waiting for him' and other such drivel. One especially thick envelope stood out, it turned out to be a collection of professions from Megumi Enomoto, nonsense about missing her prince, how no other girl understood as much as her and how much she wished she knew where he was, so she could nurse him. _The correct, if somewhat juvenile reaction to this would be: Blech._

"Thank you, Satonaka-senpai-"

" _Chiiiii-eeeee_ …" the older girl sighed slowly.

"-but all of this is so much more paper to be recycled. I have no interest in this nonsense. Not from these foolish girls. Not that I would have time for it in my busy work schedule."

Amagi, who had been giggling to herself for a little while now, fought for a slightly more serious expression. "Did you ever, you know, make it clear that you are off-limits?"

"What use would that be? I have not encouraged any of this, from none of these … From none of them."

"Maybe not," Satonaka said softly, "but we're talking about girls who are crazy about you. Or, well, about … hrm."

"Quite. As you yourself just discovered: they do not even know me. They are infatuated with an idea. No amount of logic or proof could dissuade them from their fantasy."

"That… that sadly makes sense. Yeah. Got nothing. Sorry." She fidgeted with her hands for a moment, then gazed at the bag. "So, what do you do with these? Organize them somehow?"

Naoto sighed, getting up. "I do my part and recycle them. As you would do with paper that served its purpose. In this case, the purpose was to live a dream while being written on. They have already fulfilled their intended purpose."

"Wouldn't their purpose be for you to read them?" The raven-haired girl frowned.

"Amagi-san, the person who needs to read these does not exist!" Naoto leaned with one hand against the passage to the kitchen. "There is no Naoto Shirogane, Detective Prince! There is no _he_. There is no need to hold on to the professions of love towards a fictional character!"

The silence that followed her outburst was heavy and even uncomfortable to her own ears. She tried to escape it into her kitchen. After dropping the letters into the large waste paper box, Naoto sighed and folded up the plastic bag slowly. She turned to the stove and set up the kettle before returning to the living room.

Amagi and Satonaka sat together on the couch, speaking softly. They stopped as she walked in and gave her an almost worried look.

"I apologize. It seems I still have not yet fully recovered from my… experience." She seated herself before them, leaning against her coffee table. "I have never been very fond of the nickname. Detective Prince. While on one hand it gave me the freedom needed to act as I chose, it did shackle me into a role I did not wish to fulfill at our school. The attention I have garnered is… unpleasant."

"Really, don't worry about it, Naoto-kun," Satonaka replied, "and I am sorry if I was teasing. It's in my nature. I blame hanging out too much with Yosuke. We go back and forth all the time."

"Thank you. I've started up the kettle. Please, do not let me mood disturb our evening."

"Actually, Naoto-kun, Yuki just told me how uneasy you have been with us around. So," the two older girls shared a look, "maybe we should leave you be tonight? You have our numbers. If you promise you'll call if you need help and check in with us every now and again, I'll be okay with backing off. I'm not here to make you feel all anxious."

The logical response would have been a resounding 'Yes, please leave', after all, it was what she had been silently wishing for all evening long. But now that it was starting to grow dark outside, a strange uneasiness came over the cobalt-haired girl.

Still. Nothing she could not handle. "I greatly appreciate your understanding in that matter. I would indeed prefer to be able to stand on my own two feet again." Her senpai nodded and made to rise. "But… please, let me first share some tea with you. You only just arrived, Satonaka-san, I would not feel as an adequate host making you leave right away."

 

* * *

 

**September 29th, 2011**

In the last thirty-six hours, Naoto had spent most of her time in her bedroom, drifting between sleep and fitful bouts of work. Every time she was certain she had found a possible culprit to investigate, a few hours of sleep cleared her head and she found a flaw in her reasoning, overturning all her previous work.

There had been a very brief visit by Hanamura and Amagi the previous day, but both said they had an errand to run and only had come to check if she was hungry or needed anything. Thankfully, she had peace since then.

She wasn't sure at all what time it was, when she awoke to someone knocking sharply at her door. Yesterday had been blissfully quiet, with just a couple of phone calls. She had not expected anyone to show up today. Whoever it was would go away again. She curled back up.

After about half a minute, the pounding at her door repeated, louder, accompanied with a worried-sounding, "Naoto? You there?"

 _Ah. Tatsumi. And remembering the protective streak he has towards me, I believe him capable of breaking in my door to check on me._ Naoto sighed and rolled out of her bed, making for her door. After peering through the door spy, she sighed fixed her glare in place, and cracking open the door just enough to glare out at him. "Tatsumi-san," she muttered. "Why are you here?"

"Visit," he choked out, nervously fiddling with a bouquet of flowers in one hand, a cooler at his feet and a canvas bag over his shoulder. _Flowers?_ He gestured back down the hallway. "R-Rise, she was gonna come too, but she hadta-"

 _'Rise', again._ "Then I'm sure you'll want to follow," the cobalt-haired girl muttered, pulling the door to shut it in his face. She did not get far, the door seemed to catch and would not close. She tugged at the handle, looked down slowly, saw his boot wedged in, paused and looked back up at her classmate. "Tatsumi-san. You will remove your foot from my door. Presently."

He pulled himself up, staring down at her. "Sure, if ya open it." _Why does he have to be so tall?_

Naoto closed her eyes. She was _tired_ and had no energy to try and have an argument right now. Steeling herself, she flicked her eyes open to stare at him past her lowered brows. "There is no need for you or anyone else to be here. I am _fine_."

"Yeah. Sure." He let out a breath, running his free hand through his hair. "Look... I-I'm just bringin' stuff over, I'm not gonna sit on your sofa an' talk at you. Promise."

The girl stared up at him, fingers tightening then loosening around the edge of the door. She had managed to rid herself of her senpai, she should stick to her guns now. Letting anyone else back in could re-open the standing self-invites she had just seemed to break free of. Then again… this was Kanji Tatsumi. Based on his stance and bearing, he would refuse anything but an invitation inside.

With a quiet noise of frustration, she pulled the door open to face him properly. "I don't require _babysitting_ ," she muttered, tugging at her shirt collar. She should possibly have changed at least into her sleepwear. The starched stiffness itched along her neck.

"And I ain't here to baby-sit," Tatsumi growled, pointing to the bag slung over his shoulder. "Bringing you notes from school, thass all. You wanna fall behind?"

Naoto gave him a flat stare. She crossed her right hand to her left shoulder and leaned into the door frame. "And presumably the flowers are pens? Or does the cooler contain textbooks?"

The young man leaned forward and snarled, "The flowers are from Rise, alright? And the cooler, s'just some food, R-Rise said there's nothin' in your kitchen, that's why she keeps bringing crap over! And detectives don't know how to cook anyway!"

 _What?!_ Glowering, she tipped up her chin, squaring up. She grabbed the door in one hand, the frame in the other, ready to slam it shut again. "I am perfectly capable of consulting a recipe book."

"You don't have any."

How did he even know this? He seemed to not have paid attention to anything while he visited her two days ago, simply starting at the floor or ceiling. In any case, who needed cooking books? "I would check the internet."

"So what if y'did? When was the last time you cooked something?"

"I've had no reason to bother. Kujikawa-san has been providing ample food."

"Which y'tried once and never touched again, right?"

She had to admit, she walked into that. From the challenge in his voice, he had previously sampled her cooking and must have come to a similar conclusion as her: Rise Kujikawa seemed to use pure capsicum to lace her meals. Spicy was one thing, but her food was, well, possibly not fit for human consumption. But she would _not_ admit to that. "It... wasn't that bad."

He did not hesitate. "Liar."

"There are processed meals!"

"Yeah, real nutritious. You gonna live off ramen all week?"

Naoto's hands returned to door and frame, knuckles went gripping. In part because she was getting more and more worked up; in part because her exhaustion started to call in owed debt.

Tatsumi-san did not seem too intent to back down, either, and unlike her, he had the stamina to possibly continue the argument out here in the hallways for the next hour or so.

Finally he leaned down to pick up the cooler, shifting the rather garish bouquet into his other hand. "So, you go think about the case or whatever and I'll do my thing. Alright?"

How could he read her so easily? And how could he have the _gall_ to just assume she would do as he instructed? " _Fine_ ," she snapped, realizing seconds later that she was doing precisely as he had demanded and stalking back into the living room. She flopped on the couch, watching him turn into her kitchen and preparing to unpack from the cooler and tote bag.

As she watched him, her anger slowly changed. Naoto realized she was not angry at him, not as such. She was angry at herself. She was angry that as much as she hated to admit it, having him come to help her was comforting. A comfort she would not normally allow herself. A comfort she should, by all means, reject. _I should not even have anyone be interested enough in my well-being to feel they should provide me with such..._

The young Shirogane was used to being on her own, alone, self-sufficient. She knew how to run her modest needs in this small household. She knew the risks of trusting others to come to her aid and how slim her chances of such aid ever arriving was. In her recent years she had alienated others driven purely by her desire to never having to face separation or rejection.

And now in her kitchen stood a young man who barely knew her, indeed, who had mostly known her under her guise of being a young man, and he did not seem to mind.

She rose, walking towards him, stopping in the door frame. She gripped her left shoulder with her right hand and watched as he seemed to hesitate over the cooler. "What did you bring?"

He jumped, looking at her with something akin to wide-eyes panic. "S'just okonomiyaki," he mumbled, and pulled a spatula out the cooler and staring into it. _Astute. He brought his own after seeing the contents of my kitchen two days ago._ "You can heat it up."

She nodded, not that he could see it, and noticed the flowers once more. He had said, hastily, that they had been Rise-san's idea. _Gods, now I am getting used to thinking of her with that name already._ A small frown started to take over her brow. Why bring flowers? She wasn't sick. She just needed a little rest, that was all. "The flowers serve no purpose."

As if hit with an electric shock, he twitched. "Rise," Kanji blurted. "You got a vase somewhere?"

That was not something she generally had any need for. Who would buy her flowers? She only even took note of flowers if they were involved in a crime scene. Wordlessly, she shook her head, her right hand slowly rubbing her left shoulder.

"Don't matter," he muttered. "Figure somethin' out,"

She shifted her gaze from the sink to his back. _Why is he here, really? Is Rise really coming? Is his visit some form of romantic gesture? No, nonsense. It would be as unfounded as the letters she had given to Satonaka-senpai to dump into the paper recycling two days ago. But then why? So far, only the other girls had visited her on their own._

He seemed to have lost focus for his work, as he stood, shoulders slightly hunched, staring blankly in front of him.

Admittedly she had not thought much about him, but she felt a moment of uneasy thankfulness. He had carried her home. Had taken her berating and insults and punches and kicks and carried her here. What did that mean? Did it mean anything? Would he have done this for any of the others?

What was his future role going to be? She had told Grampa that she hoped he would be an anchor point in her investigation and in her newly forged social network. Her gaze slowly sank to the floor. _How does one create such a status? Will it happen naturally? How will him knowing the truth about me change his behaviour? Can I even still count on him?_

But it appeared she could. He brought her food. Saw she needed sustenance and provided it. Is that normal behaviour for friendship? Rise-san and Satonaka-senpai both had brought her meals. Did either of them encourage it?

He whirled around, as if wanting to say something, but the bone-tiredness Naoto felt made her unable to look up to meet his gaze. He turned back around presently.

 _Okonomiyaki_... "I don't recall trying it before," Naoto said quietly. "Okonomiyaki."

"S'good. Y-You got plates?"

She pointed at the correct cupboard hesitantly. Was he not pleased with simply leaving her the food? Why go ahead and prepare it now?

"S'posed to be resting, right?"

 _Ah, that's why._ Stroked by the fires of pride, she pulled herself up, turning her head to glower at him. "I am _fine_ ," she snapped.

"Yeah, y'said. Go sit down, gonna bring you somethin' to eat."

"There's absolutely no need for-"

"I know, alright?" The young man rounded on her, fists clenched. "Shit, I'm just trying to-"

Both froze. Naoto looked up at him and realized she had poised to defend herself. _Why? He has never made any threatening gesture towards me._ She watched him closely, saw something small and gentle in his eyes under the bluster of his stance. _I am upsetting him with my rejection…_

This would not do. He was in _her_ home. She folded her arms to show she was not moved by his antics, though after a moment, she could not make herself keep eye contact any longer. She gazed at the floor. "Very well. Do not make a mess." She stiffened, fearing this would be considered an invite to spend more time here. "And... you will leave afterwards."

With that, she vanished back into the living room. If it made him _happy_ , he could stand in the kitchen all day for all she cared.

She snuggled into a corner of her couch, barely able to see him move about her kitchen here and there. For all she knew, Rise was supposed to come and somehow she had made him promise to take care of preparing food for…

She slid further into the couch. _No, because he was rather abrasive about her culinary skills and I doubt she would have admitted to such._

Curling up smaller, she let her eyes slide shut. _He can stay for now, but then he must leave._

She drifted off to the sounds of another person busily preparing food. For the first day in nearing three weeks she slept with a sense of comfort.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto is starting to face consequences...

**September 30th, 2011, late evening**

Somewhere between waking up and drifting off to sleep again, Naoto pulled the blanket closer. Her eyes pinched shut, then reluctantly slid open to see her dark living room.

A quick survey of her situation told her she was curled up on her couch, a blanket was on her, nearly too warm, one leg was poking out to cool off already. Something smelled of prepared food, but the scent seemed cool, as if the meal had been hours ago.

With that, she started up, remembering Kanji Tatsumi. _He was here! He went to prepare me a meal and I went to sit on the couch and…_

Hurriedly she untangled herself from her blanket and stood. "Tatsumi?" He had left. He had to have left! It would not do for him to stay, alone, here!

She found a light switch and turned the lights on. Blinking at the brightness she made sure that she was indeed by herself. No one was in the living room, no one was in her bed- or bathroom. She walked into her kitchen and found some okonomiyaki stacked between one right-side up plate and another one flipped on top over it. He had left the spatula behind, possibly to allow for the food to be reheated again.

Anger clawed its way up her throat, a bitter, heavy feeling of helplessness and embarrassment.

Not only had he, who very much was only an acquaintance at best, taken the time to bring her food, he had asked her to _sit down and relax while he would serve it._ And her thanks for it was falling asleep.

Had he stayed? Waited for her to wake up? Had he left at once?

What was he thinking of her now?

She needed so desperately to regain control.

As she walked into her bathroom to shower, she felt the tears that had insistently formed and now started to well over her lids. Standing before her mirror, she squeezed her eyes shut to try and deny them. Stripping from her clothing she grunted and roughly wiped at her face.

She opened her eyes to regard a young woman, cheeks reddened from the rough wiping-away of her tears, stared back. Her eyes were soft, vulnerable. Her stance was hunched, unsure of herself. Something troubled her, but she had no means of dealing with her turmoil.

Naoto started to frown, the girl in the mirror glaring back at her.

_stopthat_

She accepted the thought willingly. Yes. She would stop being that fragile little thing.

She grabbed a towel and walked away to wash up. She would not accept any further distractions from her goal. And that one was clear and easy to aim for.

Understand what is happening. Reassess. Solve her case. Leave. She needed to leave Inaba, soon. This place prompted too many uneasy feelings and thoughts.

* * *

**October 2nd, 2011**

She had prepared the small coffee table with a collection of her trimmed-down notes and case files. What she had used the most so far was a large note pad, and she took notes as fast as she could while Narukami-senpai listed off dates, places, and phrases she would absolutely need to look up at a later time.

"And you say you said 'Persona!' when the card appeared before you. Why? What does that signify?"

The boy scrubbed his hand through his shaggy grey hair. "Honestly, Naoto-kun, I've not got the slightest idea. It all felt so strangely normal. The card appeared and I knew if I destroy it, and call out, I would be helped."

"Indeed," she said, flipping back a page, "a blue tarot card. Zero-Zero, the Fool…"

"Yes. Within it I knew was a power to help me survive."

"But you also say you did not know why."

"Yes," he sighed.

"Peculiar. So far you have mentioned terminology of Jung's psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and extraversion and introversion." She frowned at the pages before her, tapping the pen against her lips.

A polite cough made her look up. "I've no idea what you just said," her senpai admitted softly.

"Oh, I apologize. Carl Jung wrote a number of standard works for psychology, it's all quite basic, really, but he did create a number of still-used terms that are being worked with in the analysis of mental disease and general psychology." She leaned back, her arms crossing on the coffee table. "Without going into too much detail: Jung, much like Sigmund Freud, worked on the understanding and classification of the human emotional state, subconscious and individuation. He in fact worked with Freud in a close collaboration for some time, till he diverged and broke with him, stating that Freud's' concepts were too narrow and too negative. Where Freud stated the unconscious was dark and undesirable, formed by supressed emotions and desires, Jung wishes to state that there is more. He also included the formation of archetypes, the collective subcon… senpai?"

The boy twitched as if someone had woken him from a nap. "I… I'm sorry, Naoto-kun. I don't think I can follow all of this. Do you have an even smaller summary for me?"

Her jaw set and she exhaled slowly. "The terminology you seem to simply know without an explanation is…" She stopped herself once more. "Think of the persona as a mask you show to the outside world. What you want others to perceive of you. And the warning is, that you should never strive to become that mask you use to the outside world, else it consumes you. The result would be enantiodromia, a cataclysmic event which breaks the persona and brings forth the shadow aspect. The shadow being an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not wish to identify in itself and may in fact reject forcefully. However… no, that is too simplified, as the shadow may also well contain positive aspects which may also remain hidden…"

She stared at the table, frowning. How to break something as complex as persona identification, disintegration, negative restoration, absence and finally restoration into bite-sized chunks?

She decided to skip that part for now. "Suffice to say, senpai, that this is all found in generally accepted medical terms. I'll find no hindrance in finding out more on these matters on my own. Which would lead me to my next question then..." She flicked through her note pad while her senpai poured himself more tea. "Ah, yes, how do you fight? We have covered how you found the world, how you found one another and even how you found Kubo. While I was... being held, I could see your group approach darkness, or have darkness moved towards you, then it would consume you... but I was unable to make out anything other than that. What happens when you approach these 'lesser shadows', exactly?"

He shifted, settling down more comfortably, as she flicked to a new page and watched him expectantly. "Well… you mentioned you were able to see something from the outside. Tell me what you saw, maybe I can elaborate on it then."

Naoto frowned at her question being turned right back around to her, but nodded. "Very well. I could not see a whole lot, truth be told." She noted down his question and her answer as she spoke. "I saw a formless black mass that seemed to become attracted to your group, you were surrounded by it, then I saw a wavering darkness and now and again one of the team staggering back or swinging a weapon, but naught else. After a while, the darkness would clear like fog and I could see you again."

"Huh. So that's what you see. To us, the shadow turns into a specific shape. I mentioned them, the shadows, wearing masks. They seem to align somehow to one another, they will always take on a new form and split into up to five lesser shadows. When they split, they seem to be able to take on different forms or aspects, however, it seems they like to always group up into specific … kinds, I guess?"

The detective scribbled eagerly, trying to soak up the information the leader of the teenagers provided.

"You know, it would be easier to simply show you all of this, Naoto-kun."

"Perhaps so, but if I am to perform within the group, I need to be brought up to their level of expertise," she replied, frowning at her notes. "There is yet so much I do not fully comprehend."

The grey-haired boy sighed and leaned on the table. "Actually, Naoto-kun, there are other things I would rather speak of with you, especially concerning the team."

"Yes?" She halted, looking up from her notes. "Should I open a new page for this?"

He chuckles softly. "A new page… yes, you should absolutely turn a new page, Naoto-kun."

Confused by his mirth, she kept his gaze held with hers, flipping over a few pages. "You see, Naoto-kun, I was speaking with the others in the last few days. They made it clear how urgently you wished to talk to me. And, yes, I did get each message you had them send me."

Slowly her eyes widened as he spoke. "So you wilfully _ignored_ my requests to talk to you? Even knowing how urgently we needed to speak?"

As a reply, he picked up his tea cup and slowly sipped. His gaze remained on the cup as he put it back down. "Yes, Naoto-kun. I had decided that you needed to rest, more then you needed to gather information."

The glower came unbidden. Naoto very deliberately put her pen down and steepled her fingers, slowly bringing them to her face. She needed a moment.

While she heard him go on, explaining his reasons for blatantly ignoring the case, she fumed quietly. She had endured her secrets being torn from her before these teens. Had suffered through days of being ill – which still wasn't explained to her fully as of yet! – and the obnoxious _visits_ her new comrades had insisted on pushing on her. On top of all of this, she was now, curtly, being informed that again someone else had decided for her how to address matters.

"You realize you are directly interfering with an ongoing police investigation by wilfully withholding information from me?"

Narukami looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes." With that he simply waited for her to continue.

"And you hopefully also realize that every minute we wait could lead to another victim?"

"Mhm, it could happen, yes, but we would know."

"Are you telling me you are pleased with simply waiting till something happens? Do you not feel responsible to stopping this… situation?"

"Sure I do. But we are high schoolers. We have classes. We need to have a social life. We must ensure we are safe. And I highly doubt even you would be able to convince the police to join us inside the TV world."

"It has been _months_ ," she snapped, "and we have precious little to show. You should have seen me days ago, Narukami-senpai, so we could devise a plan to-"

"Naoto-kun. Listen."

She snapped her mouth shut, glowering.

"We cannot move forward. Not yet. The problem in all of this is not a lack of understanding, but a lack of knowing. So far, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise and you yourself were taken. But unless you have a great new break to reveal, then I can tell you that none of the others remembered even being taken. We have nothing new to go on. We try, and we do our best to protect anyone who is taken, no matter who they are. But running ourselves ragged will not help anyone, we'll only drive ourselves crazy."

The young Shirogane chewed on the words madly racing through her brain. Who did this teenager think he is, that he would attempt, _attempt_ to try and tell her how to lead an investigation? She had lead entire departments years ago during cases she spearheaded. Her experience would out-value anyone he could even dare to hope to work with.

"Also," he continued, not waiting for her to reply, "there is another thing we really need to talk about."

Naoto chose to simply quietly glower at him.

"Your behaviour." He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. "You've been a jerk. Or, to put it differently," he continued as she bristled up, "you are showing yourself excessively hostile to the team."

"Because they are trying to _baby_ me," she shot back. "I am just as old as you are, and yet it seems no one wishes to even show me a shred of respect as you would amongst peers. Indeed, I have been treated as a witless child a number of times by all of you!" The raising of her voice had not been intended. She didn't mean to yell, did not mean to be abrasive towards him, but her patience was at its very limit.

"You have been sick. Indeed, everyone who had been abducted before you didn't get as bad as you did. You've been the worst we pulled out so far. We honestly care. We're scared seeing you like this. Both Chie and Yukiko have told me that they would rather have someone here overnight every day. They only recently stopped because they started to chafe under your very... _abrasive_ behaviour." It was his turn to frown. "We're on your side. We are worried for you."

She sat back, staring at him with an absolutely blank expression. "You do not even know me…"

"You're a fellow student. We know what we would of your job like anyone else in town. And we know that you have seen and experienced things close to what all of us had to experience and see. In a very real manner, we know you better than any other seven people on this globe would know you. And still you push us away." Narukami shook his head. "To the point of being hurtful. We have offered you nothing but our help because we knew you're in bad shape."

Naoto pressed her cool fingertips to her forehead and glowered at the table. Had she really been… a little tone-deaf in her interactions perhaps?

"I must ask you this now. Do you wish to join the team, Naoto-kun? Please think carefully on your answer. If you say no, I will get up and leave and we will no longer trouble you. I would hope you could stay with us, but I first need to know if this is even something you actually desire."

"Of course I would seek to join forces with you. You are, after all, my best lead in this case."

"So why are you not acting like you indeed want to be a part of the team?"

"What?" She looked up at him in confusion.

"I should possibly not tell you this, but you upset Chie enough to make her cry the other night. She asked me what to do, what she had done wrong. And I had to tell her she hadn't done anything wrong. She simply tried to be there for you, and you pretty much made her feel miserable about herself _and_ about spending any more time with you." It was his turn to lean forward and rest his chin on his closed fist. "Do you think the team would accept you if they feel uneasy about spending more time with you?"

Satonaka-senpai. Crying. Those two words would not mix in her mind. It seemed impossible for her to make the connection.

But something else rang true. If she was to join this group, making enemies was not the way to go. The bigger problem with this however – she had not realized how her behaviour affected those around her.

It was a problem that most certainly wasn't new to her. In some level, she knew that the manner in which she interacted with others was felt as being cold, detached, and even abrasive. It possibly was part of her problem when working on cases for a longer period of time, too. While others wished to blend social life with work, she would prefer to keep the two separated. She also knew where this behaviour originated from.

"I am… poor at making friends, Narukami-senpai. In part due to never having made many friends of my own age to begin with. In part due to my desire to keep my work purely professional and without emotional attachments."

"I can see that." The boy nodded at her, but did not smile. "I really, honestly can see that. But we are all friends. We need to be, in order for us to do what we do. I do not believe we could face what we face without the emotional support of one another. And I firmly believe even you would benefit from this support. But you'll need to work on regaining it now."

He made to rise and Naoto stood with him. "You are leaving?"

"Yes. I think you'll need to think on things for a while, and I would rather make sure that you have some time before you give me your answer."

Narukami gave her a brief nod and saw himself out.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The days after Narukami told Naoto she might not be allowed to join the I.T. - she tries to comprehend what she needs to change and arrange herself to find a new fit into the relationships offered to her.

**October 3rd, 2011**

Sleep had not come for her and since Narukami had left the previous evening, she had been by herself. No one had come to visit, no one had called or texted her. This had left her with a vast abundance of time to go over the notes she had written while they spoke, time to look into Carl Jung and his theories, time to read up on basic psychology on shadow, persona and the possibility of enantiodromia.

Unfortunately, it had also left her with too much time to think on the other matter her senpai had brought forward. At first it had felt like Narukami had delivered his speech, set the barbs of insult and humiliation into her flesh and then simply left.

None the less, it had been more than that. He had left her alone with her thoughts and the knowledge of what his words truly meant. Now her thoughts kept refocussing on the core statement he had made yesterday, and this had possibly been his actual goal in his speech and leaving the way he did.

It could be, that the teens rejected her further involvement into the case.

_Hostile. Abrasive. Hurtful._

These were the words he had used to describe her actions. To describe her behaviour and her manner of interaction with her peers. Had pointed out to her how she should reflect on his words, on her actions, on the reactions sparked within the team.

Naoto sat in her living room. She was perched on the corner of her couch, elbows on her knees, staring sightlessly at the floor before her.

 _Hostile_. Yes. She could see that. She had thought it being an obvious reaction, too, to the way her home had been invaded by them. Repeatedly even! She had been given no say in the matter and… _Wait. Had I no say in the matter? I did not at first, true, and I had relented. But had I no say on later days? Had they not spoken to me? Had I not the chance to point out to them my true unease about the situation? My own feelings? My shame? My embarrassment?_

 _No… those are excuses._ If she had to be honest about the matter, all of these are just presumptions about her status and her situation. The junior Shirogane had actually simply assumed. Assumption, she knew, was the bane of _any_ investigation and no professional should ever let themselves get pulled into that dark morass. But it happened. The right thing to do was removing oneself from it without too much embarrassment.

The same held true for _abrasive_ , she knew. Instead of actually saying what she should have, politely, if curt, she had fallen into the trope of being sarcastic and cynical with those who would fight to ensure her safety. Instead of being grateful, instead of being thankful, instead of acceptance for the help provided willingly, she had sought ulterior motives; had cast to find a way to belittle and lessen the care they had shown her.

 _I've been such a fool…_ Her lack of social tools notwithstanding, she should have realized sooner what her actions actually caused. Her problems at the police station? Her own doing. Her troubles fitting in with her peers? Generated by her conduct.

Try as she may to find a plausible excuse for her actions, she could not escape the one true fact of the matter. She had caused hurt to those who had risked their lives to save her. Every single one of them had been present to not only see her shame and her secrets revealed. They had also stood against numerous odds to rush to her side – and with possibly the sole exception of Tatsumi, none of them actually had spoken to her previously, or had known much about her.

_Hurtful. In my own pain, I have sought to ease my pain by passing it on to them. In case of Satonaka-senpai, that hurt seemed to have passed on to her fully, forcing a deeply emotional reaction. I must find a way to make amends. But how?_

Letting her head sink lower, she heaved a depressed sigh. _Why is this suddenly happening to me?_ She had never asked for friends. She had not wanted to be part of any social net – at least not for reasons of companionship. She had her case in mind. Her one goal: To solve the case presented and to move on to the next case.

Now a new way of solving a case was shown to her, one she had so far avoided at all costs. She was offered hands of friendship; offered to have a team of emotionally bonded peers to help solve the mystery.

In fiction this had been introduced as a basic concept to her previously, she knew. Many a time where Watson was not only _influential_ in solving a crime, but _instrumental_. The Maltese Falcon was not tracked down solo. The Name of the Rose was elaborate and run by one master of the detective arts, but even Baskerville had not acted fully on his own, even if he had rejected earthly love in the end.

Maybe that was the key. Allow some, but refute the shackles that come with it. Remain cerebral while allowing for laughter.

Naoto was unsure if she could walk that narrow path, but she was determined to try walking it none the less.

 

* * *

 

**October 4th, 2011**

_Walk the narrow path, Shirogane… you know you can walk the narrow part. Oh gods, they are starting up again…_

It had, all in all, started off as a rather pleasant visit. Satonaka and Hanamura had shown up at her place this afternoon after class, carrying with them half a picnic. Right now, her small coffee table was stacked high with bottles of green tea and yogurt drinks; _takojaki_ and steak skewers. Hanamura said he had 'caught wind' that some of the girls had brought food, and decided that he would go and buy some essentials at Junes.

All had seemed well. Naoto, having promised herself she would do her best to make amends with the teens, had welcomed them in, offered to brew some hot tea and finally sat down on the couch. Satonaka unpacked the shopping bags they had brought, while Hanamura plundered her kitchen for cups and utensils. She felt the need to commend herself once more on not snapping at him for making himself feel much too much at home.

While Satonaka sat down on the floor across from the couch, chatting, Hanamura hopped up on the couch right next to Naoto. Everything seemed _fine_ at that point.

By the time Hanamura started to try and involve her in a conversation about an anime he had recently watched, Satonaka seemed to take offence, possibly at the subject. She made several scathing remarks directed at him.

_Come to think of it, she gave me a few rather odd looks, too…_

Frankly, the younger girl was surprised. So far, she had only experienced Satonaka as very friendly and most pleasant company. But whenever Hanamura was around, there was always a slight streak of tension within her.

Even after the initial fight had worn down, it seemed as if something kept fanning the flames, making both raise their voices at one another repeatedly throughout the hour they had now spend here.

"If you would excuse me, senpai…" she muttered and got up, dodging past the daggers being glared back and forth. She nipped into her bedroom, grabbed her shoes and put them on while desperately wondering how to put the greatest distance between herself and the apartment. _A dash to the bus stop, perhaps?_

Naoto reached for her keys, muffling the jingle, slipped her phone and wallet into pockets and peered around the corner into the living room as she slowly tugged down her cap into place.

"-no idea what you're even _talking_ about!"

"- and the _moment_ we get here to visit, you just ooze all over her, you pervert!"

"All ov- _WHAT_? Are you out of your mind?"

"First you don't even visit her for days on end, and then-"

Naoto pinched her eyes shut. Whatever this argument was about – she would not involve herself. As a matter of fact, she extracted herself through the door, into the hallway. She froze as she heard Satonaka from inside.

"Hey, Naoto-kun? I think your door's open it's a little drafty."

Desperately she poked her head back inside. "Oh, thank you, I'll close it at once!"

Banging the door shut to a muffled shout, the detective spun on her heels and barrelled down the hallway. Waiting for the elevator was not an option, she needed to _move_. She banged open the door to the stairway at the same time as she heard a door behind her flying open, followed by an angry-sounding shout from Satonaka.

Her feet pounded down flight after flight of stairs. She nearly tripped twice, but in her haste to get away she simply kept going, turning her stumble into more speed.

She might have made a clean escape, if not suddenly barrelling head-first into a rather solid, if thankfully soft, object.

Rebounding and stumbling back up a few stairs, grabbing the handrail to steady herself, Naoto gaped at the person in front of her. _Of all the possible persons… it had to be Tatsumi._ "Why are—" _No, wrong, that did not matter now!_ "Move, now!"

He stared at her, almost at eye level as she stood a few stairs up from him. Slowly he started to frown. "Why? Where y'goin?"

"Out," snapped the junior Shirogane. She braced herself against the wall on one side; grabbing the rail tightly on the other. "Move!" She added her best possible glower, but it seemed to just run off of him.

"But you're s'posed to be sick!"

She grunted in frustration and tried to simply duck past him. A very solid arm moved, blocking her way and she actually growled at him while trying to push at him with both hands.

"Stoppit! Go back upstairs."

 _Just who do you think you-? You have no right to-! I am fine!_ _MOVE_! Too many thoughts queued up at once to lend her the conviction and needed expression to push past him, but before she could get either of them properly formulated, one of the fire-proof doors further up banged open. Naoto froze.

"Naoto! Don't you make me come down there!"

Kanji blinked at her, then looked up the flight. "That Chie-senpai?"

She needed to _move_. She had to get away from here. Trying to be friends, trying to be friendly, trying to _befriend_ – all well and good, but she could not take another minute of the pointless bickering and… and…!

Growling, she started to smack her open hands against her much too-tall fellow student. "Tatsumi! Will you just _move?"_ It was like trying to move a mountain. Nothing she did budged him, and while she thought she was dexterous, he seemed to simply materialise in front of her whenever she tried to dodge around him. Frustrated and starting to feel anxious as she heard feet pound down the stairs after her, Naoto started to launch a volley of slaps and punches against the chest and arms of youth in front of her.

It seemed to have little effect. He simply frowned down at her and started to say, "I ain't lettin' you-"

Naoto froze mid-punch as she heard Satonaka-senpai's voice, only a few meters behind her. Her fists uncurled and she placed her hands on his chest, her head hanging in defeat.

"I swear, Naoto-kun, you try that again and I'll kick you down the stairs myself! Thanks, Kanji-kun," she added, as she jogged down the last flight of steps.

The blonde mumbled, "No worries," while seemingly trying to pull away from her. Her hands simply slid down his chest and she turned, a small frown set on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" Satonaka snapped. "Why'd you run?"

The junior Shirogane simply tipped up her chin, a displeased sound choking past her throat. Would she really have to explain to her senpai how they had been acting like absolute children in her home, making her so uneasy she had no _choice_ but to extract herself? Remembering that she had in the past apparently already caused enough strife in that regard, she tugged down her cap and glowered into the dark blue screen.

Behind her she heard Tatsumi shift. "Somethin' happen?"

"Nothing! Yosuke and I were just _talking_. Next thing, the door slams, I hear footsteps hammering down the corridor and there's no Naoto!"

"Yeah, but she didn't get far. Told you we didn't need to run after her." Naoto lifted her head to see Hanamura stroll down the stairs, hands shoved in his pockets, the tinny rattling from his headphones growing louder with each step. "Good catch, Kanji!"

 _Good catch? What am I, a fish? Pray? A ball to be played with?_ With a low growl, the detective flung her arm out behind herself towards Tatsumi. "He did not _catch_ me! I was-"

"Like you'd run anywhere, Hanamura," Satonaka snapped, hands on hips. "Naoto-kun would've made it to Okina by the time you reached the street."

Naoto furiously tipped her chin back up, trying to stop herself from snapping at them like she was absolutely justified by now! "I'd most certainly-"

"Right," Yosuke deadpanned. "Because you're _way_ faster than me in a fight."

"If you'd let me-!"

"At least _I_ didn't fall down the strip club stairs!"

Naoto, about to make her fourth attempt at starting a sentence in the past fifteen seconds, suddenly stopped. _Strip club? What on earth are they…_

"Hey! No fair, the lighting there sucked!"

She turned to look at the blonde, her eyes trying to form the question her tongue was unable to formulate. He looked oddly flushed. "Uh... ya- uhm… you gonna go back to your apartment?"

Before Naoto could answer, Satonaka jumped in. "Yep, she sure is," she said with a grimace, then turned to Hanamura. "Wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

She grabbed the smaller girl by both shoulders, turned her away from Tatsumi and all but dragged her up the stairway. "Really, Naoto-kun, what were you thinking, running off like that? I know you want to hit the ground running, but you've only just recovered a bit. Jeez, we don't want you to get sick again!"

Naoto ducked out of the grasp her senpai had on her and turned to face her. "Satonaka-senpai-!"

"Hey, not bad! You gotta show me that sometime. Once you're feeling better, go on!" She gave the younger girl a gentle push forward.

Naoto held her ground. "Senpai." She looked at the hand on her shoulder, then pointedly at the other girl. As the hand was removed, she gave her a grateful nod. "Thank you." She looked to the ground, her jaw working on the next few words. "And… thank you for your concern." She turned and marched up the stairs.

"Sure. But, well, why'd you even run to begin with?"

Tired of not getting a word in earlier, and tired of having to explain the obvious, Naoto found refuge in honesty. "I chose to oust myself from the developing negative atmosphere in my apartment, Satonaka-senpai. As you mentioned, I am not fully recovered yet and… and Narukami-senpai mentioned that my recent behaviour towards you caused you unease. The logical choice was to vacate-"

"Wait, Naoto-kun! Hold up…" The older girl jogged past her and blocked her in front of the hallway to her apartment. "Are you…? Oh _jeeze_ , are you saying that you felt you had to leave your own place due to us?" The junior Shirogane's reply was tucking her cap lower. "Oh, Naoto-kun! I am so, so sorry. That was totally rude of us. I promise you that won't happen again."

Naoto simply nodded and gestured to the door exiting the stairway. "I'll just be headed back then. Tatsumi-kun may want to stop by, or maybe he's changed his mind, but I wish to withdraw for now."

Her senpai hesitated, nodded and simply lifted her hand in a brief greeting before turning back and jogging back down the stairs.

She returned to her home, unlocked the door and, with a slow breath, sunk against it, letting her back push it shut. Just a breather. Just a bit of time for herself. Would the others accept if she stated she simply needed some quiet? What about if she asked for just a few hours for a walk outside? Right now, it was all a bit much again and… and…

She turned, peering through the door spy. Yes, that heavy footfall outside her door was indeed Tatsumi. Closing her eyes, she leaned her brow to the door and waited as he pulled up. She peered once more, saw him lift his hand and surrendered to the finality of the situation. He would not leave, she knew, so she simply opened the door and turned on her heel, walking herself into the living room-

Crossing her arms, she silently stared at her couch, waiting for him to enter. She heard a shuffle, possibly as he took off his boots, then a soft click as the door closed. _Just some quiet. That's all I really crave._

For about a minute, it was actually what she got. She knew he was in her living room, his footfall had stopped, she guessed, about two meters behind her. They both simply stood in silence. And she was most assuredly not sulking.

"You, uh, got a vase."

"I requested that Hanamura-san purchase one at Junes on my behalf."

He walked to the shelf and frowned, poking at some of the petals. "Thought y'said flowers were pointless."

"They are," was her quick retort. Just because she had decided to keep them... and she still wasn't sure who, _exactly_ , had sent them to her. "But keeping them in an orange juice container is inappropriate. For a gift." She shifted her frown from the floor to the vase in her shelf. She had told herself she would only keep them as long as she expected the teens to visit her. Then oust them, hide the vase somewhere and put her books back into the gap she had created to place the vase.

Tatsumi had turned and entered her kitchen. She had missed he was carrying several bags yet again. _Had he... had he brought food as well?_

After a moment of hesitation she followed him towards the kitchen. Watching, she leaned into the door frame. Something about the ease with which he seemed to have taken over this small room in her apartment made her uneasy. Anxious, possibly. Slowly she lifted her right hand and held her left shoulder.

He was a puzzle. Unlike the others visiting her, he seemed the most uneasy to actually _be_ here. And yet he came, and not just to hold useless, idle chit-chat. He brought food. He took care of her flowers. He had a most nurturing element in his very actions with her. Why? Why did he go out of his way, out of his comfort zone so much for her? While the others also brought food, companionship and tried to entertain her, he went about it with a mixture of obvious discomfort and … and something she could not seem to find the correct words for.

While he certainly knew her the longest, he had mainly interacted with her _creation_ , the façade she had to put up to work and function in her chosen profession. He knew Naoto Shirogane, the Detective Prince. And yet, here he was in the apartment of Naoto Shirogane, a girl he barely knew. Or maybe he had not yet internalised she was in fact female? Seeing he did know her the longest, did he still act towards her as he would have towards the detective prince?

Still. This was the second time he came to visit her on his own. Had he somehow planned this? Was this an unspoken arrangement with others of the group? Had they, too, rationalised that she might be less hostile to someone she knew longer, if only slightly so?

If nothing else, she should feel somewhat outraged that he would boldly enter her home alone. What would their classmates and senpai say? But… But they must have known, correct? They encountered one another in the hallway. Had he asked them to leave her to him by herself? No. Impossible.

And the worst of it... the worst of it was, that she felt comfortable with him present. _Because_ he was mostly quiet. _Because_ he cared for her. _Because_ he had not once asked her about the detective prince or her work or her shadow. There was a level of acceptance and quiet she very much appreciated.

Still. She felt she should somehow refuse him. Reject the attention he gave her. It was the right thing, wasn't it? Especially cooking for her... none of the others went into the trouble. And he had only recently visited her, on his own, bringing food...

He suddenly shattered her quiet thoughts with a gruff, "Whass'matter with you?"

"You were here two days ago."

"An' now I'm back," he muttered quietly. She watched as his shoulders hunched slightly.

"Alone?" Her hand crept up, unnecessarily straightening her collar.

"Nah. Rise and Yukiko-senpai, they're gonna show up soon."

She stared at the floor. This situation was so... so frustratingly confusing. What did he hope to get out of this? Why was he trying so hard to ... _Befriend me? Is this what I am missing in his actions? Is this, indeed, how a friendship would be normally forged?_

She looked up, just as she noticed his eyes dart away from her. "You brought more food," she pointed out.

"Chicken _mizutaki_. That okay?"

That question also seemed weird. Of course it would be _okay_. She had to admit his previously prepared meal had turned out delicious and it was bound to be less rich in fats and higher in vitamins and minerals than any processed food she had eaten. _He's waiting for a reply!_ She forced a small, single nod. _This is as much as I can possibly do right now, until I find out more of what his preparation of food truly means._

"So... feelin' better?"

Ah. Now he, too, resorted to small talk. "Yes." _Indeed, I_ am _feeling much better..._ Her voice shifted, suddenly cold and clipped. "So you should have _moved_." She looked up, her eyes staring a cool challenge at him.

"What?"

"The stairs. You _blocked_ them. I simply wanted-"

The youth twisted round, swinging his hand toward the door. "Wanted t'what? Run out into traffic?"

 _If that woud-! Pounding pavement would be much more-! I could have used that time to-!_ Again too many replies at once started to line up, and she angrily snatched the one she felt would get to the fact of the matter the swiftest. "We have a killer to locate. My idling here achieves nothing!"

"You ain't gonna get anything done 'till you're better!" he growled, now pointing at her.

"Why does everyone think I'm-I am _fine_ , I have things to do, the case isn't..." She trailed off, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers. "...We need fresh leads. More information." She felt the mild headache from earlier return.

He shrugged, his hand sinking back to his side. "I know, alright?" His voice became quiet, the expression on his face softening up. "We got nothing." He even sounded somewhat unhappy himself.

Much as she had thought for the past few months. He was indeed her ally in this. The person she would come to depend on. He sounded just as frustrated and unnerved about the blank status quo. "Indeed," Naoto muttered, then let out a long breath. _I need to re-bond him as my partner._ "How did you handle this in the past?"

He shrugged. "Waited till somebody vanished, I guess."

"Ridiculous. We must be proactive about this."

"Senpai's decision. He's the boss," the boy mumbled. _Again, being told to submit to Narukami. Did not one of these teens have a_ spine _? Would not one of them stand up for what is_ right? "You rushed off last time, look where it got you!"

Her glare shifted, boring into him. "It ' _got me_ ' proof that the police have the wrong man."

"Big deal!" The tall youth slowly stepped closer, fists balled. "You seriously think that was worth gettin' yourself killed for?"

She paled for a moment. Of course, he was there when the clone, the shadow had revealed- _No!_ "I am alive and well. A fact you all seem determined to completely disregard!" She would not let his mood change allow him to get the upper hand. And attacking that moment of weakness... _He could not know. He cannot!_

"Dammit, are you a complete idiot?"

Naoto instantly bristled, eyes flashing dangerously. "I do _not_ value your-"

"Practically throwin' yourself in, never even telling us! Shit, Naoto, we almost didn't make it, took us a whole week just to figure out where the hell you were!"

Naoto wasn't at all sure if she had previously actually experienced him angry. But he seemed now. He stopped right in front of her, his trademark hunch was gone. He used every centimetre he had on her to tower over her. It would not have the desired effect. She would not be cowed by him or _any_ man. She drew herself up, her chin came forward, her brows pulled down far enough for her to only barely peer at him. She leaned forward, her hand lifting to tap straight at his chest. "I took the most reasonable course of action to achieve my aim, I had approached you all previously and none of you were willing to divulge any useful information! I asked _you_ directly, and _you_ offered nothing but evasion - what else could I have done?"

"I dunno, how about anything _except_ throwing yourself in a television?!"

"Listen, Tatsumi, at no point did I-"

"No, _you_ listen! You coulda told someone, left us a damn note, just swaggered on up and said you'd figured us out - screw it, I don't even care, you ain't got no idea how I felt!"

Dead silence fell. Naoto's hand froze, locked mid-point, her thoughts racing to keep up. _No idea how he felt... I have no idea how he felt... How did he feel? Why would he have any kind of negative feeling about my actions one way or another? Why would it matter to him? What did he mean by-_

"Uh - how all of us felt. The team," he quickly added. His glare had been replaced by a mix of fear and surprise.

 _He was worried. For whom? For myself? For the image had had of me?_ She grabbed her cap, tugging it down hard, breaking eye contact. "Your assumption is incorrect. Rise-san has already stated that you were concerned for my well-being."

"W-we all were, y'know? Course we were."

"Pointless. Do you really believe I'm-I-I am not incapable and I do _not_ require anyone's pity! Something I wish all of you would recognize," she added darkly, crossing her arms.

"It ain't that I'm not happy you're back," she heard him say quietly, before quickly adding, "The team, y'know. We're all glad."

"Double negative."

"What?"

"Saying that something isn't not the case. Double negative. What you should say is, 'I'm happy that you're-" The sentence stopped short, and she unfolded her arms, quite startled. This was not a conversation she needed to have with him. Or with anyone, for that matter. She folded them again a moment later. "You understand."

"Whatever. I-I ain't the only one to think it, alright?"

"I know. Satonaka-san made her opinion _perfectly_ clear. To the point where even Hanamura-san began to defend my actions." Naoto hesitated; mouth twitching with what almost looked like a wince. "At high volume."

He flinced and closed his eyes. "Yeah, they're real good at that. 'Specially if they get to do it loud."

She nodded glumly, then turned and walked back into the living room. If all their friends were used to that display, well, she would need to learn to adapt.

"S'probably no consolation," he offered as her followed her, "but after I got pulled out, they came by almost every day. Third time round, Ma threatened to throw all of us out in the street." And with Ma, that took a lot. "But they're good guys, y'know?"

"Yes." Naoto paused in front of the couch, one hand on her hip, and stared at the floor by his feet. She needed to find a place to start. And starting with Tatsumi might be the simplest, all things and options considered. "Which is why I..." She trailed off again. _How should I actually word this?_

"Uh... which is why what?"

She had begun saying it. And he would wait. _And_ with the current mood he displayed, she felt he would not let her weasel out. "Tatsumi." Soon as she'd begun, Naoto hesitated and shook her head. "Tatsumi-kun. I... I ought to... demonstrate gratitude. Express regret."

"Uh... for what?"

"For... for my behaviour, I was- You see, Narukami-senpai has... he-he's informed me of my recent failings in regards to your group. That I must make amends and, and accept this new situation." She turned to face him, exhaling softly. "I may as well start now."

"S'right, he already talked to you." It could have been the topic at hand, but he sounded saddened by her words.

Naoto nodded. "Twice. Once at length. And provided me with a very thorough explanation of your group's actions thus far. He's an intelligent man. It's no wonder he's led you all so successfully." Showing respect for the group's leader, especially seeing how swift he was at pointing to him as the one to take direction from, might lead to him accepting her words better.

"You... he said you guys talked a while." He fussed with a loose thread on his shirt for a moment.

"I suppose," she said, with a small shrug. "Why?"

As she watched, his eyes seemed to lose focus. What was he thinking about right now? Did he already realise before her what other difficulties she might be facing? She watched with mild worry as a frown settled on his brow.

"Uh… s'good," he eventually said. "Y'know. Wanting to be friends." The frown softened, and a pink dusting seemed to shade his cheeks. Anger? Happiness? She could not be sure.

Friendship. Well. "Perhaps. I had intended to... explain my new stance to Satonaka-san and Hanamura-san, but... well." She made a gesture to explain the previous escapade and he simply nodded. Oh. That previous moment. What was it Satonaka had said in the stairway? "Um… what was that about strip-"

"Y'can tell Rise and Yukiko-senpai instead," the young man cut in hurriedly. "They're gonna be here any time. They, uh, they wanna see you."

Just as she had gotten used to one person visiting, and that one person she actually could tolerate! She was about to angrily refute needing any more visitors… and then remembered what she had attempted to do in the past few minutes. _Well, if Tatsumi was an easy start, the two he had mentioned would not be a bad place to continue, really._ "That's... kind of them."

"Ain't what you're thinking at all, is it?"

Naoto's head snapped around to him. He had a small smirk on his lips and stood with a very casual slouch near her. "Why do you pres-" She stopped, mouth clamped shut again, and took a deep breath. Friendly teasing. This was not malicious. And he had seen right through her. As a detective, she needed to accept that, respect it. "We simply have little in common."

"So ask 'em to leave. Say you're tired."

Could she? She reached for her collar, tugging it up stiffly. She could. It was her home. And she had yesterday considered how asking for her privacy would be better than her previous bitter behaviour. But… Making friends. She let her hands drop to her sides, feeling her hands ball up into small fists. "That would be counterproductive. As I have stated, I must accept these things, since I intend to join your investigation."

Kanji blinked at her. "You serious?"

Pushing her cap up a bit, she needed at him. "Having spoken with Narukami-senpai, I believe it the only rational course of action. Combining our resources would be a mutually beneficial arrangement."

She watched as his eyes became unfocussed and flit about the ground a few times "Huh... you mean we'll kick more ass, right?"

"Err..." She arched an eyebrow slowly. "...I suppose that's one way of phrasing it."

"Coulda signed up before, if you'd just said you'd figured us out." He said it oddly, almost watching her from a corner of his eyes, hunched down again.

Hand on hip, Naoto stared at the ceiling and started tapping her foot against the living room floor. Honesty. Trying to befriend. She needed to at least put for the effort, no? "I had originally thought-well, before, I had anticipated that your group might require-"

"We didn't not want to tell you everything, yeah?"

She shot him an annoyed glance. "Double negative. Again." Then another thought entered her head. With something close to understanding she continued, "You struggle with composition."

Tatsumi glowered at her. "So? Ain't like you don't-ah, shit." His cheeks flushed. "Fine, laugh, whatever!"

Naoto shook her head. "I was stating a fact." Feeling embarrassment seep into her, she looked away, foot still tapping. "If you require some assistance." She turned her head slightly. He still glowered and possibly had not understood. "With schoolwork."

She noticed his eyes widen before he pointedly turned to eye her bookshelf. "I don't want t'copy your stuff. Ain't right. 'Sides, Senpai'd freak."

"No. I meant..." Not good. She had angered him. Trying to take a milder tone with him, she tried again. "I would help you. Instruct you. Rise-san has informed me that Amagi-senpai does the same for Satonaka-san, and Narukami-senpai for her and Hanamura-san. She also declared it beneficial and suggested I do the same for you." She crossed her arms and tried to edge back into his line of sight. "So. This would, would appear appropriate. Since Narukami-senpai has instructed me to... adapt." He still had not reacted. Maybe his upset lay deeper than she had at first realized? Her voice quickened. "Of course, if you do not wish to-"

"Uh, no, I... I mean, maybe not now, but later, yeah? Once you're back. Everything settled." He still had not turned away from the bookshelf and he still would not look at her. "Just... don't expect a lot, alright?"

He seemed to do his best to avoid looking at her. Stepping closer to the shelf, she watched him run his gaze run over her different thesauri and dictionaries. She had not pegged him as someone who held any interest in either, especially with his obvious weakness in composition. She ended up at his side, glancing up at him past her cap. "You are interested in dictionaries?"

"No. Just looking. Thought... y'know, maybe get one someday. Good for reading, all that crap."

"You read?" If he had any interest in reading, they could possibly find a new way to bond. If she wanted to find friendships with these teens, she needed an in.

"I-I used to. When I was a k-kid," he stuttered.

Naoto's eyes narrowed. If his stutter had returned, his ease must have vanished. A lie? "That contradicts your earlier statement outside the bookshop."

"Yeah. I know. Just..." He made a few helpless gestures. "Like I said, a kid."

"What genres?" She could not help her nature. She needed to probe further. Either he had tried to lie to her, which would harm future attempts of friendship, or he felt intimidated by something. Either way, she felt her hunter's instinct come forward.

"Usual. Y'know."

"No," Naoto said flatly.

Suddenly she head her front door fly open. Her hand went to her hidden holster, only to find she had not equipped her gun.

"Hey, guys!" That high-pitched, bubbly voice could only be one person, the detective knew.

Tatsumi had whirled around at the same moment she had and gaped, "Rise?"

The idol barged into the room, a skipping pigtailed whirlwind with the much quieter Yukiko in tow. "Yep! Honestly, Naoto-kun, you need to remember to lock up, someone could just waltz on over and kidnap you again." She twirled toward Kanji without missing a beat. "Hey there, Kanji-kun. Having fun?"

"None of your business," he snapped.

Naoto, glaring from underneath her cap's screen, felt thrown off-track for a moment by the last comment and Tatsumi's odd reaction to it. Did Kujikawa imply he would not be enjoying himself here? That would go back to- No! She glared at the idol, going back to her intended reply. "I _intended_ to be kidnapped, Rise-san, I am perfectly capable of def-"

"Kidding, Naoto! Besides, you've got Kanji-kun here to protect you. Right, Yukiko-senpai?" She threw her arms around Naoto's shoulders. The junior Shirogane did, of course, not squeal at that move. Even if her personal space was being fully violated. Even if she still was not sure why Kujikawa kept going for her in this odd manner. It may have simply been a slightly startled, surprised sound.

Yukiko had been wearing the same vague look of confusion since she'd walked into the room. "Hmm? Oh... that's right. Kanji-kun's quite strong…" She hesitated, her pale brow delicately creased. "Although... I remember in middle school, he-"

"Yeah, that's great, you wanna siddown or what?" the young man snapped, then stormed off into the kitchen to clamour with the kettle.

Naoto turned to watch him, eyebrow raised, then felt her cap being removed. She tried reaching for it and turned to see Kujikawa sporting it now, the cap sitting sideways on her head. Sighing softly, she gave the young man a quiet, thankful smile. Maybe, if he stuck around for a while, this will not be quite as hard.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting ready to both head back into school, share her knowledge... and make apologies. It's a lot to do and digest in just two days - and then Naoto still needs to join the Investigation Team. Will they even accept her in?

**October 4th, 2011, Afternoon.**

Naoto settled down on the couch, only to find herself all but pinned to one side of it by an overly enthusiastic Kujikawa. Amagi-senpai giggled as she found herself a spot on the floor, delicately pulling herself into the traditional seated position on her heels. From across her modest living room, she could see Tatsumi stand in her kitchen, readying up some tea.

Choosing silence for the most part, Naoto kept trying to inch herself away from Kujikawa, while the other two girls happily chatted about some occurrence or other at the school yard when they left to visit her. When Tatsumi returned, he shot Kujikawa and herself an odd stare before settling down and handing out tea cups. He poured himself some, then retreated a bit.

For the longest time Naoto found refuge in simply nursing her cup of tea, glancing at her guests and making non-comitial noises at apparently appropriate times.

The dynamic was interesting to observe, even with only these few of her new team mates surrounding her. Kujikawa lead the conversation, Amagi politely contributed… and Tatsumi was silent, observing for the most part. While both girls appeared to be similar to how they would behave if it was just the two of them, Tatsumi always changed quite a bit. It was both worrying, and reassuring to know he could hold both the passion he showed earlier, as well as the quiet strength he displayed now.

After about an hour, Naoto took a deep breath and politely took over the conversation. "I know I went about it wrong earlier," she gave Tatsumi a small nod, "but I am starting to feel rather 'stir-crazy' due to being in my apartment for days. I would also like to get a small amount of shopping done and-"

"Oooh, we should all go for a walk then and stop by Junes, too!" Kujikawa put in at once.

Amagi-senpai frowned for a few seconds, then nodded. "Yes, but then we should go together. It is a good idea to stretch out your legs, Naoto-kun, but I would rather you were not alone for that."

"Oh, no problem, Yukiko-senpai!" Kujikawa interjected before she hopped off the couch and knelt beside Tatsumi, holding on to his arm. "We have a strong man with us to protect and help us!"

"Wait, what? Wh-What's tha' gotta do with me?" His panicked eyes widened and he looked to Naoto as if to plead to a higher court.

The detective frowned at her guests. "Really, I can very easily take care of this myself. Tatsumi-kun will confirm that I was up and about earlier already."

"Sure, but we're gonna go shop for you, Naoto-kun! I'm sure Kanji will agree that stretching our legs and a bus ride or two would be fun, too! Right, Kanji-kun?"

Naoto's jaw set as she watched Kujikawa heap affectionate displays upon Tatsumi. Even if they dated, there was surely a time and place...

He finally nodded. "Okay, _okay_ , leggo, Rise, yes, I'll come." He shot Naoto a quick glance, then blushed, obviously embarrassed by the way he had just presented himself as a guest in her home. "'f course I'll come with you."

The teens rose, Tatsumi gathering up the dishes and placing them into the sink while the girls put on their shoes.

* * *

**October 5th, 2011**

Feeling a sense of contentedness she had not in several days, Naoto leaned against the wall right beside her living room window. She could not really see much, the rain was rather thick and pelted her window in steady rivulets while the greyish light outside turned early afternoon into the dullness of late evening.

Sipping from her tea cup, she let her mind wander. Yesterday had turned out surprisingly pleasant after all. Amagi-senpai and Rise-san had not moved from her side, sure, and she could not help but be keenly aware of Tatsumi-san hovering near by as if he expecting to have to catch her. But she had been able to convince them to leave as a light evening rain had started up and it only took her pointing out neither of them had had the foresight to bring an umbrella to dissolve the group activity.

She had stopped by Junes long enough to grab a few pre-boxed _bento_ for the coming days, then hurried to the bus stop and home from there.

After days of being cooped up in her small apartment, she actually felt energy returning, possibly in part thanks to her being able to take her own life choices again and proceeding to take back her autonomy. Having had help to get back on her feet was, she had to admit now, appreciated. But now that she could prove that no more closer observation was needed, she could resume her work.

Learning more about this 'TV World' would be prudent, and she started to wonder if there may have been lasting medical effects for those who were taken there – or who entered to bring them back. An unfamiliar worry entered her thoughts at this. Was she actually worried about how these other teens were dealing, mind and body, with everything that had happened?

Naoto frowned into her tea. She did care, odd as it seemed. She had to realise that, with all that had happened, she had formed a bond that she needed to consider in her further interactions with them. It was, still being frank with herself, not an unpleasant feeling.

Her breath misted gently against the window as she sighed after another long draught of her tea. Maybe allowing herself to open up to these teens would not be so bad after all.

* * *

 

**October 6th, 2011**

Naoto Shirogane was not standing leaned against the pillars of the school gate because the thought of entering the building on her own distressed her. No. She further did not feel the craving of having others who knew her be near as she re-entered the school grounds.

She still kept her cap tucked low into her brow, ignoring the excited whispers of students passing her. Gossip, the very reason she had taken such pains to ingrate herself into the school, had been the one thing she had underestimated in re-joining class this morning.

"…he's back!"

"… looks like he's been really ill…"

"..hope he reads my letter today! I wrote him before I knew he was sick…"

Still, so far this was better than the alternative. Glancing up once more, she saw three of her _senpai_ head for her, Satonaka, Hanamura and Narukami. Naoto pushed herself off the pillar, glad to have a few friendly faces to interact with.

It was Satonaka, who addressed her first with a look of genuine worry. "Are you feeling better now?"

The shorter girl nodded. "Yes, thanks to all of you. I'd like to thank you once again for what happened. I have not been the most accomplished in expression my gratitude so far, but please know that I am grateful."

Hanamura gave her one of his smiles, followed by that obnoxiously flirty, easy wink of his. "Don't mention it." He eyes scanned over her attire. "But hey, your uniform..."

"Huh? Ah...yes." Naoto turned her head slightly to one side and hoped to all that was right that she did not flush. She had, in fact, been slightly uneasy when dressing this morning, but, really, there was no other choice in the matter. She did not even own a female version of Yasogami High's girl uniform, after all. "After contemplating the matter, I went with what I've been wearing thus far. There's no need for you to…"

She trailed off as she heard two students walking by, chatting loudly.

"Hey, it's the Detective Prince. Guess he's better again, man, he was all the girls talked about."

"That's no prince. I heard "he's" a she!"

Her eyes slowly widened.

"Huh!? Y-You serious!? If he's a she, then uh...O-Oh crap!"

They hurried by her with fast steps and Naoto pursed her lips, frowning at the ground. She heard Satonaka take a breath as if to say something, but more students passed them.

"Aww...I'm kinda disappointed, but then again, there's something neat about it..."

"Yeah...If you look at it a certain way, doesn't she seem pretty cool?"

Pretending to watch them go by, Naoto turned her head. She did not mean for her peers to see the look of dejected worry on her face. The lump in her throat made it difficult to speak with her practiced low tone of voice. As she spoke up again, it came out slightly raspy. "My, my... Rumours spread so quickly."

Narukami gave her an even look and said quietly, "We're on your side."

Her head snapped back around and she eyed him with wide open eyes. An unbidden blush crept on her cheeks at his words, though she could not quite place why his words unsettled her in this manner. "Th-Thank you...But it doesn't bother me at all. There's no need to worry on my behalf. So please treat me as you did before. If you… if you could." She shook her head, willing the blush off her cheeks. "That aside, I'd like to discuss the case with you all. We're dealing with a kidnap-and-murder case perpetrated by someone lurking in this very town. And it isn't over yet. Let's go over the finer points after school, if you agree."

* * *

 

School turned out to be more awkward than this morning had led her to believe. Girls tried to strike up conversation with her. Now, surprisingly, _boys_ tried to do the same. She had become the centre of attention in a very uncomfortable way and being able to simply sit in the empty classroom by herself for a few minutes had been a much needed break from the spotlight glaring down on her.

She sighed deeply, shifting in her seat. Leaving the classroom at this point was not an option for her. Her main hope right now was that everyone was busy chatting in the hallways before class started.

Even in the slightly depressed state she was in, her senses - honed by years of training, were still keenly aware of her surroundings. Noticing the door to the classroom open and feeling the heavy steps of a tall or heavy person approach her was not difficult. Then again, not hearing the nearly-too-high pitched female voice approaching her would have been quite a feat.

"Hey, Naoto-kun!" Kujikawa smirked as she hopped on her desk. Somewhat too close, leaning on her hands and giving her the brightest starlet smile she had seen from the idol in several days. And if she was here, Tatsumi would be as well, those had been the heavy footsteps behind her.

Naoto did not look up at them, instead staring unseeing at the desk. "Rise-san."

As much as she pep-talked herself in these past few days into being more accepting, welcoming the offers of friendship, spending more time with them - all she wanted right now was some time to herself. Digest what was happening to her. Try and find a way to save her standing with the police - did the rumours reach that far yet? Her face darkened.

"Uh. Hey."

Ah, yes. She had not acknowledged him yet. "Tatsumi."

Kujikawa picked up on the developing silence. "You look a lot better, Naoto-kun. Handsome as always!" she chirped. "I saw all those letters piling up while you were away. Almost as many as I get."

Naoto just shrugged. She did not feel the need to explain the obvious yet again. Their letters did not matter. Their displays of affection did not matter. Most of these would be send to a fictional character, a persona, someone who existed in their heads. Even the boys, who had started to pick up on the rumour, were not really interested in her. They were interested in a new girl who had some strange hobbies. It did not matter. It would not matter unless she gave it meaning, and she would refuse to do that.

Silence stretched on. Naoto wished for nothing more than that they would leave.

She seemed to be getting her wish shortly after, as Kujikawa skipped off her desk again. "Well! Guess I'll go now! Kanji-kun wanted to talk to you, anyway."

"No I did-" Whatever he had been meaning to say cut off with a surprised yelp. She must have bumped into him as she had turned to leave. Or, for all Naoto would think, she snuggled him again in one of her public displays of affection. Tatsumi did not strike her as someone who was interested in such things.

"You sure did!" she trilled, sounding oddly strained. "Remember?"

"Uh?"

"Bye, guys! Gotta run!"

Naoto turned in her chair. Whatever it was he had to say, she had a good idea what it was about. Possibly about her insisting they needed to split up and head to their respective homes the previous night. Or another of his lectures on how she needed to stop doing everything on her own. Come to think of it, this was most likely precisely why they had intruded on her solitude in the first place.

She watched him lift a fist threating at someone by the door before his hunch came back and he turned to look at her with panic-constricted eyes. Let's get this over with. "You had something to say."

"Uh," he repeated, eyes wide.

She kept her eyes on him in silence. She knew him. She knew that he did not deal well with silences, so he would break long before she would. Besides, sharing some silence with someone near who could probably scare off any further intruders did hold a certain useful potential.

He swallowed hard and squared his shoulders. "Y-yeah. Yeah, I do!" He stepped around her and leaned forward. Both his palms slammed against the desk, where Rise's had been moments prior. "Whass wrong?"

 _Ah. Good cop bad cop? I've seen that game too often to let amateurs impress me with playing at it._ "Nothing." She made sure to lean back slowly, not to get away from him, but to shoe her utter comfort. Cool eyes watched him. Kujikawa was likely to be outside, trying to listen in. Whatever the couples' plans for her were, she would not join in on their games.

"But... you..." He trailed off. The muscles in his jaw twitched, as if he was crewing on the next words. "So...uh, you're still wearin' the boy's-"

"There's no reason to change. I am accustomed to this," Naoto said briskly. Again with the focus on her attire, just as Hanamura. Why? Had someone informed the faculty? Why was there such a fascination with a student who simply did not wish to accept some outdated gender role? In her anger, her shoulders tensed. "If there is a problem-"

"No, no! Whatever works, y'know?"

She uncrossed her arms a moment, looking away from him before she realized she was letting her guard down. "Then this, for now."

"Ain't nobody gonna give you trouble over it, don't worry." Tatsumi cracked his knuckles for emphasis. "'Cause if they do-"

"Unnecessary," she muttered. "People talk. I... I am still myself. I am simply now open regarding my sex." Something stopped her thoughts. Did he really just offer her to cause physical harm to anyone who were to offer her negativity? Though her frown remained in place, curious eyes slid up to regard him.

"Well... that's great, right? Secrets. Bad news," he added.

"I was- There was nothing wrong with-" The sentences stopped short _. 'There was nothing wrong with telling the lies I had to tell the world to be who I needed to be', Shirogane? Is this how you wish to present yourself to the very people who risked their lives to get to you? Who risked their lives, even though you lied? Who stuck around after the lies were uncovered and in some specific cases seemed to care even more? Would Amagi-senpai have held the detective prince if he had been crying?_ Naoto tensed her jaw and stared straight ahead, her arms crossing again. "Of course. You are right. Bad news."

Silence settled in again. His tension slowly left and his fists uncurled from what she could tell from the corner of her eyes.

She did not expect his next, softly spoken words. "S'good you're back."

She swallowed hard. She remembered his words in her apartment yesterday. His desperation at not having been able to find her, his anger at her leaving them - him - in the dark. His worry. And now, the confession he had missed her. But had he? Naoto looked up, expression perfectly blank. Maybe all he had been missing, like everyone else in this building, was the detective prince. The gossip. The dreams. "Tatsumi. If you will excuse me, I must catch up on my missed work before class."

Emotion flickered over his face, and he turned to storm out of the classroom, cussing and slamming the door drawn shut.

Naoto flinched and leaned her crossed arms on her desk. _I truly do excel at this 'making friends' business._

Lunch found her furiously stomping through the school, trying to find out where each member of the _investigation team_ could be found. Why he had sent her as an errand-boy... No, no, it made sense. Narukami-senpai had seemed in a hurry, and he happened to run into her in the hallway. Of course he would use any member of his team to try and coordinate meetings. She had been lucky enough to run into both Hanamura and Kujikawa moments after she had been instructed to find everyone. Kujikawa - Rise-san - had told her she would be likely to find Tatsumi near the textiles' classroom during recess and after school, so she headed there next.

Indeed, there he stood. Arms crossed, glaring through the windows. He flinched and twitched at what he observed. Knowing his family's occupation, he possibly saw a student handle some material in an unfavourable manner or another. It was hard to see any amateur do something in a manner that displayed they had no idea what they were doing, Naoto knew only too well. As she approached him, his arms uncrossed and a fist flinched to his side. Well, if she were to already disturb him, now was as good a time as any. And she needed to make sure whatever mood he was in, he'd snap out of it. She squared herself up and faced him openly.

"Tatsumi?" He stared at her, eyes wide, then seemed to try and hide a blush by staring at the floor. His anger was very apparent in his actions, so she decided to not give him too much time to reflect on it and let it taint their conversation. "Narukami-san has requested your attendance at a meeting after school," she told him. "At Junes, of course."

"Right. Thanks." She observed his hands clinching into fists and relaxing, repeatedly, before he quickly added, "You, uh, gonna show too?"

She gave him a curt nod "Yes." He is trying to be friendly, she reminded herself. This morning had not gone well between them and maybe this was another attempt at mending broken relationships. Trying to be friends certainly was complicated. She tilted her head up to catch his gaze for a moment. "I hope to see you there."

Feeling this should suffice, she turned and left, trying to remember where Hanamura had said she was likely to find Satonaka-san.

* * *

 

The meeting at Junes had, in truth, been her idea, as was pointed out quickly, as she had said this morning they all should meet up. As everyone arrived, Kujikawa and Tatsumi being the last - for reasons she felt she should not ponder for too long.

She gave her account of what had happened to her in as much detail as she had been able to recall and had, indeed, noted down days ago in the quiet of her home.

"I believe," she said in closing, "the primary cause of my dismissal was because I raised that possibility to them. The police won't readily concede that they made false charges, particularly if the accused is a juvenile. The overwhelming sentiment within the police force is to end this case with his arrest."

"I remember that policeman saying the same thing," Amagi said, then turned to Satonaka. "Back in the shopping district, Chie, you remember."

"Yeah... but would they seriously do that? If it's possible there's another killer?"

Naoto nodded grimly. "Obtaining a rapid conviction is paramount in this case. Inaba is a small town. It has been stressed to me on several occasions now that ensuring that they can show off progress and close out the case would benefit the town as a whole. Further, they assume that the killings are linked to crimes of passion, meaning that the matter, once resolved, will tie up neatly."

"Those dickheads... I had a feeling they'd pull something like that," Tatsumi hissed. "Not that I trusted 'em in the first place."

Naoto gave him a startled look. Of course, his history with law enforcement would further such a stance towards anyone in that line of work. _And possibly against myself, too, as I worked with them. My partnership with him may be beyond repair, if that is the case…_

"But, uh, Naoto..." Hanamura picked up the conversation with a small frown. "If you were that calm when it happened to you, couldn't you have, you know...?"

Naoto stared at him blankly. The rest of the team followed suit. How much honesty would she be able to give? How much _could_ she give them?

"I'm not saying you should've caught the guy... but isn't it kinda sad for an ace detective to go down that easily...?"

"It was that- I-I… At the time…" She realised all her nervous tells were showing. Every single motion was denial, every sentence she tried to start but could not finish, her body language, all of it. She finally put herself on lockdown, fingers clenching into the side of the table. "To... to tell you the truth, I was really scared." She hesitated. They had a point. She had been supposed to be the professional and solve it. She failed. "I-I'm sorry." She fixed her eyes on the table, unable to look at any of the other teens.

Hanamura yelped loudly as Amagi-san spoke up. "It can't be helped. None of us could resist the culprit either." She leaned over and laid a hand on the smaller girls' shoulder. Naoto hated herself for the flinch she was unable to suppress. "Don't forget, Naoto-kun's younger than us, and she's a girl."

Her eyes shut tightly. Of course it would be Amagi who had to point out the element of the weaker sex. It already started, even with those who claimed to be her friends. The protective shell of the detective prince was blown away and all that was left, clearly, was a frail damsel.

"Huh, good point," the aburn boy put in, "I keep forgetting when I see her talking like this." There was a small pause before she heard amusement bubble up in his voice. "Hey, Naoto?"

Naoto lifted her head and opened her eyes. "...What is it?"

"You got balls, for a girl."

Again she felt a blush creep in. Compliments, as welcome as they were when pointing out her skills in her profession, seemed so very out of place if directed at anything regarding her person or nature. Her fingers gripped the brim of her cap. "R-regardless, I have no doubt that the culprit will continue with his attacks. We can only watch and wait for him to make the next move." The blush faded as she spoke, and her voice turned firm. "But this is no longer a mere assignment for me. I want to know the truth of why we were targeted."

She hesitated, then pushed up her cap. Her hand sank and she gazed at each of her peers in turn. What she had to say now was a matter that Narukami had brought up with her days prior and had been prominent in her mind since he had brought it earlier as well. She needed to finish this case – not just for the Shirogane name now, but because they had targeted her. They had sought to harm her. She was no longer just an observer, and, for the first time in an investigation, was on the hunt after someone who had tried to take her life.

How would they react to her request, she wondered.

She turned to her left and saw Amagi, her hand still lightly resting on her shoulder. She would support her request. They had bonded strongly enough, she was certain.

Her eyes skittered by Narukami and rested on Hanamura. He returned her gaze calmly, then looked puzzled a moment before giving her an encouraging wink. Did he know what was on her mind, or did he simply mean to reaffirm her? Either way, she appreciated it.

Beside him stood Tatsumi.

Tatsumi. She had only known him for half a year, in which he morphed from a lever in her attempt to shift the boulder crushing her case to… to… to a comfort? To someone whom she felt at ease enough to trust? He was the one who seemed the most likely to assist her in anything she might need to further her case, the most likely to actually be a _friend_ in all of what she had to face and endure. His earlier reaction of offering to guard her back surfaced yet again and she felt her trust return squarely onto him.

He shifted under her gaze, seeming uncertain what to do or how to react, but he seemed to still hold his ground under her thoughtful eyes. _Even if he distrusts me for his past with the police, he will not ask my removal._

Kujikawa stood beside him, an odd smirk on her face as she looked from her to Tatsumi. These two seemed close, and it was likely she knew of his issues with the law. Just as likely as she was to know her thoughts on this matter. The idol slipped her arm around the blondes' and gave Naoto a wink. It would suffice.

Satonaka was next. Narukami had mentioned that the girl had wept over her cold demeanour, and in the days since then Naoto had still not been able to picture any scenario that could possible make this strong, driven girl cry. But the look she was given now was a happy one, accepting her into this circle as easily as she did any of the others.

The bear suit beside her remained a mystery at this point, but she simply accepted that the boy she had met previously as "Ted" may simply be on a break from his job here at Junes. If he had thoughts about her involvement with the group one way or another was a mystery.

She turned to Narukami. His face was blank while she had gazed at the others and he still showed no emotion. "Please," she asked, "allow me to join your effort."

He didn't answer.

As the silence stretched on, one by one everyone else at the table was staring at him too - except for Naoto, who kept her gaze fixed on the empty space between Tatsumi and Satonaka She wanted to have either of them speak up, have either of them come to her aid… but maybe the leader of this group had been right. Maybe her actions had fully brought the situation to a break and she simply could not join them. Slowly her shoulders stiffened and her expression turned blank

She had one chance to make her plea, it seemed, and she took it. "It... was very rude of me, to-to put pressure on you every time we met, and for that I ask for your forgiveness." Her pitch wavered, and she swallowed hard, trying to hold on to her composure. "If you allow me to cooperate with you all, I-I vow not to be a burden." _I will not bring shame to my family's name._

"You ain't gonna be," Tatsumi snapped, his eyes showing an angry glint as he stared at his leader.

Kujikawa had released his arm and hopped forward. "C'mon, Senpai, let her join! She's a good detective!"

"Uh... partner..." Hanamura began, sounding higher-pitched and unsettled. Something seemed wrong, and the other teens started to pick up on it.

It was Tatsumi who spoke up again, snapped, really. "Senpai, you gotta-" His jaw snapped shut, he closed his eyes and forced a deep breath. "You're gonna let her help us, right?"

"You _have_ to!" Kujikawa insisted. "I wanna see what's going on between her and Kanji-kun."

 _Going on between…_ Naoto turned her head from Kujikawa to Tatsumi to Narukami. She was unsure why the idols' clear outburst of jealousy sounded so… oddly curious. Love was one matter she had no experience in, so maybe jealousy was not the green-eyed monster to everyone. Maybe the girl had some strange thrill in the idea that she was her rival in matters of the heart?

Whichever it was, Tatsumi looked panicked. "Th-there's nothin'!" he choked out. "There ain't nothing goin' on!"

She cocked her eyebrow at the double negative before she noticed Narukami speak up once more.

He sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What I was going to ask is whether Naoto would be staying in Inaba, since she's technically off the case."

"Oh." The thought had not even crossed her mind. Sure, they had pulled her off, but… but the case was not solved. She would not let these murders become cold cases. "Yes. I will," Naoto managed, still a little unsteadily.

"Senpai, I totally didn't- I mean, I didn't think you wouldn't let Naoto-kun join, no way!" Kujikawa's voice was nearly a squeal. "It was all Kanji-kun!"

"What? You were fussing too!" he roared.

"Be nice if someone _listened_ for once," the upperclassman muttered as he'd started kneading his temples. A tension-headache, perhaps? This situation must be stressful to him, if he had to consider the balance of his team.

"So you're staying at Yasogami High, Naoto-kun?" Amagi asked.

Naoto gave a firm nod. "My Grampa has requested that I continue to attend classes," she quickly invented. "It has been several years since I was in formal education."

"Lucky." Satonaka let out a quiet sigh, tapping two fingers against her soda can. "No exams, no need to study."

Before Naoto had the chance to correct her, Hanamura snorted. "Like you ever do."

"Oh, that's rich! Who failed two of his classes last semester, huh?"

"Yeah, and you flunked three!"

Just as the junior Shirogane started to fear a repetition of the fight two days ago, Narukami spoke up again. "Give it a break, you two," he warned - then stood up and leaned across the table to shake Naoto's hand. "Good to have you aboard, Naoto-kun."

Naoto felt her lips quirk up and she gripped his hand in a formal handshake. As much as she tried to hide it, her voice quipped and slipped in pitch as she replied, "Thank you very much. I'll do my best."

The rest of the meeting was a mix of banter and laughs, with little real information mixed in. As the group split up, Narukami beckoned Naoto to one side and they withdrew to talk quietly.

"You understand why I had to hesitate?" he asked once they were out of earshot.

"I think so. Your position as leader demands that you consider the feelings and ability of your team. You needed to ensure I would be a valuable addition and not destabilize the group."

He nodded slowly, still rubbing his temple. "It may not be a walk in the park, Naoto-kun. I still have some reservations. I cannot forgot how Chie reacted, nor can I leave out how hasty your actions were."

She knew she was flushing then, and dropped her gaze to the ground. "I had to."

"I know," he said softly. "And I may have done the same in your situation."

Unsure what the appropriate response to this was, Naoto simply swallowed and replied with a soft thank-you.

He nodded and left, leaving her standing by the low wall surrounding the food court. She turned to watch him leave, then cleaned against the bright yellow rail. Tension slowly ebbed from her as she watched the teens wander off in small groups. Still she managed to miss seeing Kujikawa or Tatsumi, thinking they had already left together. She pushed herself up and turned to walk away, when she heard a familiar, high-pitched voice behind her.

"Hey, Naoto-kun, wait up!" the teen idol called out to her, before bounding over to the wall and shoving Tatsumi forward on her way.

Naoto gave a brief, stiff nod. "Rise-san. Tatsumi." Was this going to be the confrontation brought on by her jealousy? Naoto was unsure if she was prepared for that right this moment.

"You were kinda down at school," Kujikawa said, mouth curved in her usual, easy smile. "Something up?"

Ah, yes. Good-cop bad-cop had apparently not yet finished. "No," Naoto quickly answered, looking away. She hesitated, then added, "I'm glad to join your group."

"Us too," Tatsumi added hastily.

"It's tough being away for a while, huh?" Kujikawa said lightly, not making it sound like a question. "Things always change when you get back."

Naoto stared at her. It made sense she would know. The idol was, after all, in a similar professional obligation to change locations. She certainly would know how it feels to be taken away from a known setting for any duration of time. "I-well, yes. They do."

"Hey, wanna walk with us? You catch the bus home down by the gas station, right?"

The swift changes from subject to subject were getting harder to keep up with. What was the girl trying to achieve here? Regardless, she needed to still pick up some books and possibly stock up on food a bit. "Um.. You see, the thing is…. I have to-"

As if her reply had not mattered either way, the idol looped her arm through Naoto's, "Great! Kanji-kun's lousy company, never talks."

Looking down at her captured arm, the detective's mind started to reel. She wasn't in the mood, no, wasn't in the actual state of mind at the time to be pleasant company. And the overly friendly behaviour her classmate displayed simply was too hard to follow. "I-I doubt that I'll be-"

While she had walked them to the gates leaving the food court rather brusquely suddenly the twintailed-whirlwind stopped.. "Ooh, I gotta go use the restroom." She grinned at at her captive. "Want to come with?"

The junior Shirogane, who'd been trying to tug her arm back, instantly froze. "Why would I-"

"Girls _do_ that," the other pointed out, face deadly serious - then winked. "I'm kidding, Naoto-kun."

 _They do?_ Her mind turned into a panicked fluster. Her lack of understanding of social queues seem to collide, hard, with apparent social norms of the female sex. _Why? What point would there be in taking such a very private moment with another acquaintance?_ "I-I don't see why it would be neces-"

Kujikawa clapped her hands together, releasing Naoto's arm in the process. "Never mind, new plan! You wait here with Kanji-kun. Don't leave without me, okay?"

Tatsumi began a response that sounded strangely like a kind of a growl. With a quick wave, his companion disappeared inside.

Naoto opened her mouth, unable to think of any words to express their train of thought on what just happened, closed it - then turned to Kanji, looking slightly helpless.

"She's like that all the time," he offered.

Jaw set tight, Naoto shook her head. Her reply sounded defeated, as much as she hated to admit it to even herself. "I couldn't even finish a sentence."

"Yeah."

It seemed whatever this had been, it had not been another attempt at their game of trying to get information out of her. Naoto accepted that Rise Kujikawa simply _did things_ and even Kanji Tatsumi, who seemed very close, was unable to follow her at all times.

She crossed her arms and looked at the door the idol had vanished through.

After a little while, he spoke up. "Hey... you, uh, you remembered a lot about getting kidnapped. Gotta give ya some kudos for that. You explained stuff real good. "

"Really well." Naoto still wasn't looking at him. "Not 'real good'. And I'm a detective. I was prepared."

"But even you were scared, you said so."

She snapped her head towards him, a scathing reply balanced on the tip of her tongue… and then she snapped her mouth shut. He was right. She had already admitted her failure in that regard. Denying it now would serve no purpose and be the epitome of childish. „Yes. Well. I did, and-and I was. A moment of weakness - but there's no point in denying the simple truth." She pursed her lips, looking away from the blonde.

"You got guts man, but it was still a dumb thing to do, 'course."

"Everyone has made that _quite_ clear," she muttered, tugging at her cap.

" _Senpai_ , he's… y'know, he'd never have banned you from joining."

"I know. He informed me of his conditions once more this morning. Once I agreed to abide by them, he said my assistance would be welcomed."

"Oh. Right. Sorry. You just- you… you looked worried, y'know?"

Naoto hesitated. One hand moved to grab her opposite shoulder slowly. She had been. "My concern was that perhaps someone on the team had... objected to my presence." She turned her head, eyes finally meeting his. "That Narukami-san might have changed his mind accordingly." Admitting so much left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"No way! Who'd-there ain't anyone who'd do that, Naoto, that'd be nuts."

"Ah." Her gaze shifted again, settling on a colourful banner advertising _tayaki_ in the background. She remembered the looks of concern she had seen on the faces of the teens and even remembered one of two outbursts of Tatsumi himself in the past days. There had been a definitive chance they would reject her. "Well, they would not be at fault." She had gone about all of this so… so wrong. Her gaze drifted back to the banner.

"Yeah they would," Tatsumi insisted forcefully. She eyed him then, the passion in his voice drawing her in. "And-And don't listen to Rise, okay? Gets all these weird ideas."

Weird ideas. About him cheating? Did he know of some insecurity on her part? She found refuge in simply nodding. "I expect so."

She let a few moments of silence pass. Her plans of making him a closer ally entered her thoughts again, accompanied by that strange, dull buzzing in the back of her mind. It was like trying to remember a dream after waking up, something about… She wasn't sure. But her thoughts on selecting one or two out of the group and focus her energies on returned strongly and she knew her feelings on the matter of Kanji Tatsumi had so far not been wrong. From the moment she had involved him into her affairs, he had proven time and time again someone, who would do the right thing. Naoto even had to include their conversation on the hilltop some weeks ago into that. She could depend on him, depend on the energy and drive he offered.

She straightened, hands clasped behind her back, and looked up at him again. "Well, Tatsumi… Tatsumi- _kun_ , I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Uh… Uh…yeah. Me too. T-to working with you, I mean. Not with me. So, yeah!"

"Good." A small, not often given smile playing over her lips. She had made the right choice in him, she was certain. Naoto held out her hand. He grabbed it hard, as she should have expected, and she fell back on years of being the Detective Prince when she shook his hand firmly in return.

He let go and gestured towards the nearest table. "Rise. She's gonna be a while. Ya, uh, you wanna sit down again?"

Naoto paused. She could simply go to the book store right now. She had no obligation to wait for Kujikawa with him. But spending some more time with this renewed ally would not be a bad idea, either. She looked up at him, and nodded a second time. "Certainly."


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reason Naoto asked her new associates to get a full medical examination may or may not have anything to do with her worries for the group. It further may or may not show what the radiograph of a shadow looks like. In all of this, hiding her own possible shortcomings in the health department should be easy.

**October 7th, 2011**

Buttoning up her shirt again, Naoto gazed into the mirror. With each button closing on the way up, she put away Naoto Shirogane and brought forth the Detective prince once more. While her carefully guarded secret had escaped, she had since discovered that she had a number of very adamant fans who refused to "believe in rumour", as they put it. The white noise between these two conflicting signals put enough of Inaba off-balance and granted her an extension to her desperate struggle to find a new identity.

Her eyes rested on her own gaze while she made the well-known motions as she tightened her neck tie. Aside from that, she saw no change in her. Her firm, calm gaze held her own eyes focused. Her posture was tall and straight. Her attire was perfect, as ever. As much as she had chided her … her new friends for not understanding that she struggled with the identity of the Detective Prince, she still needed him. She was naked without his influence on the world and she could not yet surrender him fully.

A knock on the door brought her back.

"Yes, enter." She turned to face the doctor walk in with a folder in his hands, giving her a small nod. When he indicated for her to be seated, she hopped on the low examination bed and crossed her arms.

"Well, I am still not quite sure what we were looking for in all of this, but your results look all right. Physically you seem in good shape. A bit underweight, mind, you should consider re-examining your diet, Shirogane-san."

Naoto felt her jaw clench to avoid answering. She was not _starving_ herself. She simply did not need much. And it had become another desperate habit of her younger self, frantically trying to stem the … unwanted growth into womanhood. Not that this had been overly fruitful.

"Then there is, of course, your sensitivity to light, but that is to be expected, I guess."

At this, she lifted her head and gave him an interested look. "A sensitivity to light? I cannot say I have ever noticed this as a problem before," she replied, her voice low and smooth."

He looked up from his files with a smile. "Oh, it is nothing severe. But you do have light eyes, Shirogane-san." When her confusion did not lift at this, he stood, and pulled a small light from his pen pocket. He lit straight into her eye, causing her to flinch and protest with a grumble. The light vanished and she stared back at him for some time before she could see anything but brightness. "There. Your iris constricted and released swiftly, so that works normally. But if you are in a darkened room, as you were for the exam, you see more light than those with darker eyes generally do. A side-effect of this can be that, while you have excellent night vision, unexpected light can leave you disorientated longer than, say, someone with brown eyes."

"Fascinating! I did not realize that your eye colour can have such an impact…."

He made an affirmative noise. "Though, you are off better than one of your peers in that regard."

"How so?"

"Ah, well, depending on how close you are with your friends you may not have noticed. Kanji Tatsumi has fully grey eyes. Actually, it's a lighter shade of blue, but due to light refraction and…"

Naoto stopped listening closely at some point after this. Yes, Tatsumi-kun does have very light eyes. And they are permanently constricted, too. Whenever she looks at him, his eyes seem to be down to small pin points. _With eyes this light, he is likely to be permanently slightly blinded. No wonder he was wearing sunglasses when I encountered him in the TV World – he must need them in order to do what he needs to do…._

"Shirogane-san? Please, this is actually important."

She shook her head and returned into the here and now. "My apologies, it's been a long afternoon for me already. You were saying?"

"This examination is of course confidential. And I will not pry into your private affairs regarding some of the data in your files which are… clearly not as noted down." She felt a blush creep over her cheeks. "But whichever the reason you chose to try and hide your bust, I must urge you to no longer use bandages for the … act of hiding."

"Thank you, doctor, I will-"

"All it takes is to constrict a blood vessel or two and you could suffer serious consequences. Breasts are not simply a mass of tissue, they are delicate instruments, Shirogane-san." He turned and picked up a small plastic model used for cancer awareness. Lifting off one half of it, he turned back to her and pointed with a pen at some of the nodular glands throughout the fake tissue. "If you constrict them too tightly for a prolonged time, you will end risking permanent damage. I realise you are still young and you may simply not yet consider what will happen in five to ten years' time. But you may end up causing damage that could impact your future life as a mother."

"Y-Yes, thank you, you have made your point quite clear, doctor." She tucked her cap down hard, wishing to simply leave. If she was doing well, she should not need to remain here…

"And this brings me to another thing I should mention."

She turned her head, not yet ready to look at him again.

"Physically you are doing well. But I fear there is some trauma when it comes to my profession."

At this, Naoto lifted her head and pushed her cap back. "I have nothing but respect for t-"

"Surely, but you showed signs of actual fear whenever myself or a nurse asked you to lie down. Indeed, whenever you did not expect seeing me, your eyes widened the moment you saw me." He closed her file and leaned forward slightly. "If any of my colleagues has, in the past, harmed you, there are ways of raising the matter, even anonymously."

The junior Shirogane swallowed hard. Sometimes giving some of the details was better than a straight lie. "I... not too long ago, during a case… I have been held under conditions similar to a medical examination. I am sure these two are related."

The acceptance of the explanation was immediate. "Oh, I see. I am so sorry. You could have mentioned this to us, we could have made some changes to put you at your ease."

"No, doctor, really, it is quite all right."

The rest of their meeting was spent going over some of the medical data and discussing her own status.

It was not exactly difficult for her to move some files with sleight of hand.

* * *

Leaning against the wall beside the door to Teddie's examination room, Naoto pondered.

Her results were good. Nearly outstanding, most things considered. Nothing showed her body to have suffered lasting damage from her imprisonment and no one here could measure nightmares. Good thing, too. Her next psychological evaluation for the force was another nine months off, that should give her time to prepare for that. What the doctor had pointed out gave her much needed information as to her newly gained weakness.

And Teddie. Well. The exam was certainly not purely pretence. But she still had reservations about him being included into the group. They knew nothing of him. And he was a creature from the other side. What little Hanamura had told her in the days of their repeated visits, was that they knew next to nothing about him. He was simply there, and if Hanamura was to be trusted in this, they had no means of leaving the TV world without the assistance of the … _bear?_

When the door opened, she did not lift her head, simply turning it. The doctor left first, not noticing her. Then Teddie appeared.

"Nao-chan!"

Her blush as deep and immediate. _What if someone heard…!_ "Teddie-kun! Don't-! Do not address me in this… this _informal_ manner. Es-Especially not in public."

"What _manner_ , Nao-chan? You are a friend. All friends of Teddie's are informal!"

Naoto sighed, slipped into the examination room and took the folder near the backlit wall segment. "Come, Teddie-kun, the others are possibly waiting for us already."

She had fully intended to lead, but he caught up and happily skipped alongside her. "I think it's _bear_ -y noble of you. That you care so much if everyone's healthy. I don't think anyone actually stopped to worry before you came."

She sighed and shortened her stride. "Yes. Well. You do realise that is not entirely true, either, Teddie."

"Mhm?"

She reached to her breast pocket and took out the glasses. "You made these, as you told me yesterday. They are assisting the team in dealing with the side-effects of the TV world."

While it wasn't a question, he nodded to her. "Yes. I noticed humans have problems with the world. It gives them headaches."

"Indeed. I took the liberty of examining these glasses last night. Not only are they very durable-"

"Thank you!"

"- they also seem to have quite masterfully crafted polarizing effect. Similar glasses are being tested for office workers who need to focus on computer monitors for long periods of time. How did you know how to make these?"

"What do you mean? I just made them, Nao-chan!"

"How?"

"I…" He trailed off, blinking. "I simply… knew how? I needed them, so I made them?"

"Fascinating. It is almost as if you have an instinctual understanding of humans. And you said you have been alone before, never having had contact with the outside world or other beings?"

Silence was her only answer.

"I … I apologize, Teddie-kun. This was not an interrogation. I was merely curious." She slipped her blue-rimmed glasses back into her breast pocket. "My apologies. I still struggle to find the right words with you and the others. I intended no ill … I…"

"You are just curious. No need to be over- _bear_ -ing with your apology!"

He continued to randomly chatter about all the topsicles he would be eating once they left, while Naoto mostly tuned him out. Thankfully Teddie's nature and forgiving personality would mean that he might just forget about most of the conversation they had so far.

Pondering, she had him take the lead, her head lowered, simply watching the floor tiles unseeing as she let her mind drift. They must have reached the others, as she suddenly heard Rise-san speak up. Well. Yell at them.

"About time, Naoto-kun!"

"We're bear-y sorry for the wait," Teddie spoke up, addressing the other teens. Naoto simply nodded, trying to bring her thoughts back into order.

The next words she heard were in the gentle voice of Amagi-senpai. "So, did they find out anything about Teddie?"

Naoto nodded once more and finally lifted her eyes off the floor. She gazed at Amagi, then let her eyes wander over the other teens. "They did. Let's head to the cafeteria to discuss the details."

* * *

The group sat on two separate tables, each one sipping from a juice box. At the table near the window were Narukami-senpai, across from Tatsumi; Amagi-senpai, across from Satonaka-san. At her table, just slightly moved away were Kujikawa, Hanamura-san and Teddie-kun.

"Well then. About Teddie," Narukami prompted.

"Yes," Naoto replied, "about him. They found out that they can't tell anything about him. I even had them take multiple X-rays, but each time the image was too blurry to read." She glanced sideways at Teddie, who was playing with the frilled collar of his shirt.

Her senpai frowned. "Weird. Was it the machine?"

"I doubt it. I had been screened just before him, and my films came out as expected." _Mostly as expected, aside from a definitive female build…_ "A standard examination indicated he seems perfectly normal. They suggested we try another hospital if we're still concerned," she added, in a terse but apologetic tone. "I feel bad for making them go through all this."

Ever the dramatic, the young blonde threw a hand to his forehead, leaving the other still at his collar. "And after they took a look at everything inside me!" He opened one eyes and flashed Kujikawa a smirk. "And under my clothing, too…"

"Ew, Ted, stop it!"

"She just said they couldn't see anything on the X-Ray, you dork!" Satonaka rolled her eyes and shared a look with her friend across from her. She sighed, putting her chin on a fist. "After all that, we still know as much about you as we do our Personas and the Shadows."

Hanamura nodded at Naoto. "Well, you did give us that overview of Jung's theories. I must say, it makes sense. I mean, once I got past how boring all that stuff sounded."

"Naturally," Naoto answered listlessly. "'Persona' and 'Shadow' are common psychological terms. I am sorry I neglected to 'pep up' my summary for you, Hanamura-senpai."

"I tried, okay? There's not exactly a fun way of learning about something as dry as … that stuff," he finished lamely. "Maybe if we search the internet for something with smaller words…"

"I'm pretty sure we won't find anything on a mainstream site," Narukami cut in. "Not about the type of Personas and Shadows we're familiar with. Teddie, any ideas?"

" _Personae_ ," the junior detective muttered softly.

Teddie shrugged. "Shadows are Shadows. They come out of people, I think."

"But that's just the ones that look like us," Kujikawa said, twirling a loose strand of hair round her fingers while sipping from her juice. "When I scanned those, they felt…" She stopped, sitting up and looking slightly unfocussed. "Eer. Human, I guess? The others don't." She shook her head for emphasis.

"Um, I can't really explain..."

"It is quite all right, Teddie-kun." Naoto glanced around the mostly empty cafeteria. She lowered her voice and leaned towards the others, keeping her tone even. "I conducted my own research after the incident and shared what I thought held true for Jung. But I found other things as well. An unofficial project document that I happened to acquisition stated that a Shadow is suppressed power-"

"… acquisition? Happened to come across?" Narukami mumbled.

"-and when controlled by one's ego, it becomes a Persona." She glanced at him then quickly looked away. "And yes, I came across it."

Both her senpai and Tatsumi shared a brief glance. Then the tall blonde turned to her. "But don't that mean they're basically the same thing?"

Naoto nodded. "Potentially."

"Huh. So… the same. But not?" When she nodded again, he continued, "Sounds weird. Then again, the Shadows, _our Shadows_ , after we beat the shit out of did turn into Personas."

" _Personae…_ " she sighed softly.

"Like Rise-chan said, only the ones that looked like us," Amagi pointed out. "What about the regular Shadows? What happens to them?"

Tatsumi eyed her, then laced his hands behind his head, leaning back. "Man, who cares about the details! Doesn't matter what they are. If they get in our way, I'll crush 'em!"

There was something almost charming about the direct approach he saw to these things. _'It's in my way, I get it out of the way.' Simple._ Naoto could appreciate that, to a certain degree. And, exercising her progress in honesty, it felt comforting to have one member in the group whose approach to obstacles was… well, to remove them.

"Nonetheless," she said, after giving the teen a small smile and turning back to the group, "I was unable find any information on how they could be related to the other world. Or indeed to our own."

Kujikawa sighed, her pout seeping into her words. "Guys, we've been doing this for months - and there's still so much stuff about us that we don't have a clue about."

Naoto pursed her lips, looking across at the girl, then let her gaze wander from one to the other. The only one who had not slumped in his or her chair at the idol's comment seemed to be Teddie.

"However!" he crowed, beaming and jabbing a finger upward for emphasis. "There are some things we do know about each other, thanks to me. I got a bunch of awesome data."

"Data?" Naoto repeated blankly. "What data were you able to gather that I missed? I checked but I didn't-"

"See, it's kinda embarrassing that I'm the only one who had personal details shown to the world, so..." He dipped his hand inside his collar, and pulled out a bundle of papers with a flourish. Papers that looked a lot like the forms the doctor had scribbled on when he hadn't been frowning at Kanji. "Tadaaa! Nowadays, information wants to be free!"

Narukami spluttered from across, "Wait, are those-"

Teddie gave a wide, triumphant grin. "Therefore, I'll break the ice by announcing the results of everyone's physical exams!"

Naoto froze in place. Franticly she padded herself down, looking for the folder she had tried to sneak out from her own examinations. _When did he..?!_

"What? No you won't! Give 'em to me, now!" Satonaka jumped up and made a desperate grab for his waist, in what would've been an amazing tackle if he hadn't skipped out of his chair behind a bewildered Naoto. Instead, she landed in a diagonal sprawl on the now-empty chair.

The junior Shirogane was on her feet and swivelled around to face the boy-shadow. "Wh-when did you take those? Those are confide-"

"Ooh, first place in the 'shortest legs division' is..." Teddie happily skipped around the others who were in varying staged of trying to get out of their chairs, trying to takle or halt him between the other tables and chairs. Now hiding behind Rise, Teddie blinked at the paper and raised his eyebrows. "Huh, who woulda guessed?

 _Length of legs?_ Naoto frowned, halting. _He must be making these up…_

"Wait, it…it's not me, is it?!" a panicked Hanamura pressed out.

"Why would they examine that?" Narukami asked, frowning. The junior detective glanced at him and nodded. There was a reason he was the leader. His instincts were on point. "Teddie, are you making this-"

"Stop talking and grab him!" Satonaka demanded, now back on her feet, dodging at full speed around Kujikawa's chair.

Hanamura blocked her path and instead pointing at the papers in Teddie's hand. "Look, if you're gonna blab it all, you might as well tell us the girls' measurements!"

Naoto froze. In fact, she felt her blood had stopped flowing.

All of this had been done under strict confidentiality. Being in this still rather public spot… Sure, her friends could be trusted with these details, but could others? Nurses? Visitors? Panic tried to claw its way up her back into her brain.

"What?" Her brain, which struggled to even register the outrage in Satonaka's voice. "Are you a complete and utter moron!?"

 _Control. I need to bring this situation under control, nothing else. A firm, strong voice should be able to defuse and address the situation._ She coughed loudly. "None of this is approp-"

"It's human curiosity!" Palms raised, Hanamura skipped backwards from Satonaka, now having drawn her fury. He turned to Narukami. "C'mon, partner, back me up here. Don't pretend you don't want to know!"

"I want nothing to do with this," he said quickly.

"I do," Teddie chimed in.

"Fine, be a coward! Kanji, you're a real man, right?"

" _What_? 'Course I am!" he snapped, but re-evaluated his reply as Satonaka whirled to pierce him with a glare. "But I, I don't-I ain't interested in-"

"I don't mind," the idol put in, oddly glancing over at the table at which Narukami and Tatsumi sat alone now, after Amagi and Satonaka had started to try and corner Teddie together now. "My profile's been public knowledge for ages." She paused, then made an offhand gesture towards her chest. "Oh, but my bust size is 2cm smaller than they print. My agency insisted."

Later, much later, Naoto would remember how her own eyes promptly and without active thought travelled down the chest of the teen idol, sizing her up. She would further never, _ever_ , admit to the thoughtful expression on her face, as she compared herself to her classmate. _Never_.

"See? Somebody's being reasonable!" she heard the triumphant voice of Hanamura through the thoughtful calculations going through her mind.

It was Amagi's loud scream that snapped her back into the moment. "No! D-don't say mine!"

"Aw, I bet guys won't care what size you are, Yukiko-senpai!" Kujikawa nodded knowingly. "And having modestly-sized breasts like yours would definitely make it easier to wear a kimono."

Naoto turned her head to Amagi. She had never before actually wondered about something as trivial as physical measurements.

A memory surfaced, Tatsumi kneeling before her as she inspected the gash on his forehead. Their conversation on the subject of one Yukiko Amagi. How wrong she had been. She had thought he had been interested in Amagi-senpai and wanted to check if the detective prince had an interest. This was, of course, before she had seen the claim that Kujikawa had placed on the tall young man.

Her thoughts on Amagi came back as well. _Demure, polite, finely limbed Amagi-senpai. She could see it. The long, black hair, the way she moved…_ She added the slender figure of the girl in a kimono into the equation and had to nod. She still would make a-

"Oh yeah, Naoto-kun's is in here too!"

There was only a beat of silence, but the rampant thoughts in that moment flooded into her mind drowned out everything else in a rush of white-noise panic. "Wh-"

She felt frozen in place, frozen in time as thoughts crashed through her head. Why was Kujikawa interested in outing her? Was this another test? Her panicked eyes flickered to Tatsumi. He stood, his eyes tiny and constricted, giving her an almost pleading look. Pleading for what? _What was going on here?_

"Umm, let's see... Naoto-kun's is..." Kujikawa leaned forward and frowned at the paper for an eternity - blinked twice - then snapped her head up with a wide-eyed stare. "Wait, is this... is this for real? Isn't this measured wrong?"

Narukami picked up on her tone and said softly, "What is it? Is something wrong?"

The heir to the Shirogane name and claims, the Detective Prince, Naoto Shirogane, in all her eloquence managed a strangled noise.

Her eyes had been locked with Tatsumi during most of this, and he suddenly pinched his eyes shut, a blush of embarrassment washing over his cheeks, nose and even up to the tips of his ears. His head tilted back as he pinched the corners of his eyes over the bridge of his nose. Clearly he was trying to stay calm over the whole situation and Naoto could not blame him for his reaction.

 _No wonder. She is being way out of order_ … She swallowed hard. Friendship be damned, she needed to shut this line of questioning down. Now.

Whirling around her axis, she fell into a standing sprint, dodging around Satonaka, giving Teddie a shoulder-tackle that send him tumbling into the idol. At the same moment, Naoto's hand gripped the folder from them and she skidded to a halt, panting, clutching the folder to her front with both arms wrapped around her midsection.

She took one step back, then another. "Th-The important conclusion of the matter is that according to the examination results, there is nothing at all wrong with our health! Any other results are fully irrelevant. So we will not be needing these anymore!" She swallowed hard, trying to tame her racing heart. _Way too close…_ "I-I'm going to go shred this folder now."

With that she lapsed into another sprint, this one out and down the corridor, papers still clasped tightly.

 _What was this? What on earth was all this about?_ Was this banter between friends? Was this actually Kujikawa trying to embarrass her? Was it another test against Tatsumi? Or was this, for once, not her fault, but instead the tone-deafness of her new team?

Whichever it was, Naoto seriously wondered if she _did_ need them. Maybe staying solo could still hold benefits after all.

She frowned into the shredder as she carefully fed it page after page.

_I am being hasty. I do not understand enough about the group dynamics yet to form a cohesive hypothesis. Maybe this sort of behaviour is to be expected from teenagers? After all, this might just be indeed how a normal, healthy group of teenagers works. Teasing, making fun of the development of their adult bodies…_

She pinched her eyes shut and swallowed hard. This was not a productive line of thinking and not something she should be wasting time on. However, had her escape from the situation not also been in part to remove herself from the eyes that had rested upon her during all of this? That… and trying to hide away the blush of fury and embarrassment.

 _Running away again?_ With a grunt she stuffed the remaining pages into the shredder and turned to leave the small office. Striding through, she barely avoided Tatsumi barrelling into her.

"Uh," he managed.

"What?" she shot back, cheeks still flushed.

"You, uh, shredded 'em, right?"

"Yes." Her eyes narrowed as she sized him up. " _Why_?"

"Just askin'! Didn't want to see them!"

He did seem genuine. Still. "Good. Because nobody ever will."

"Rise did," he blurted. The moment he did, his eyes seemed to widen in shock.

Naoto opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again for good measure. She dropped her gaze and lifted her hand, gently biting into a knuckle. Her soft muttering wasn't even something she actively noticed. "And this means you will know… I could try to place her under protective arrest, being famous, it should not be hard, and the mandatory holding period should be enough to have a few very choice words…"

"But she'll never tell anyone," he lied. "Ever."

"The word 'discretion' is not in Kujikawa-san's vocabulary," she muttered darkly.

When she looked up she saw him grinning, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "This isn't amusing in the slightest," she snapped. "A perfectly sensible idea, ruined by-" She stopped, tensed her jaw, then ran her hand over her mouth.

"So, uh, guess they know you're… you know. The doctors."

Suspiciously she dropped her hand and looked up at him, every movement her body made a threat.

"...You dressing as a guy. Do, do the cops know?"

Her impulse was to glare, snap, yell at him… but what use would that be? She slowly closed her eyes and sighed. He was right, of course. And it was not his fault for bringing up the most evident thoughts from all of this. Not only that, he had lowered his voice and spoken very quietly, making sure that she could hear him, but that his voice would not carry. She opened her eyes slowly and tilted her head up to regard him quietly for a moment.

"I... I have yet to return to the station. But without evidence, any rumours would be mere conjecture." How far could she trust them? And would that trust be repaid by them? So far, it felt like she was the one giving more than them.. They had seen her shadow. They had nursed her in her home. They had told her to change to join up. When would they start to give back? She chewed on her lip for a moment before continuing. "I would prefer … they remain so."

"You don't need to worry." Kanji gave a confident nod. "The doctors can't tell anyone. They got the Hypocritic Oath."

"Hippocratic. But you're right." It was not the doctors she had meant. Then again, she could not make herself be any clearer than this, either. She lifted her head and met his gaze. "We should leave. I believe we've caused the staff here enough trouble."

He nodded. They walked side-by-side down the corridor.

"Y'know… I really didn'-"

"I know." She tucked her cap lower into her face, hiding her eyes.

"'kay. Cause I didn't."

"Yes. Well."

The steps echoed through the hallway. She glanced sideways. His gait generally had a much further reach. Odd. He seemed to shorten his steps to stay on level with her. Still, his proximity, as it had been before, felt soothing. The turmoil of her former thoughts eased and she allowed herself to relax a bit.

By the time they met up with the others, Naoto's unease had fully disappeared.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six -  Communications Four

Receipt Date: October 8th, 2011

Delivered-To: Shriogane, Naoto - shiroganenaoy

Subject: Re: Inaba

From: Shriogane, Y F - ShiroganeYF@gmail.com

To: Naoto-kun - shiroganenaoy@gmail.com

* * *

 

Hello my dear,

It appears that this time I was the one getting too busy to write. I am sorry to have kept you waiting.

I'm happy and proud that you pay such close attention to even small matters presented to you.

Indeed, my language skills are more than passable and I do not seriously rely on the interpreter provided to me. He is a nice enough young man and having an extra pair of ears to ensure I catch everything is helpful.

But that is the question then - If I do not rely on his help for the actual work of translating, why do you think, Naoto, I have him at my side?

I have read your last letter with great interest in regards to your less public life as well. It had been my deep hope that you would set out and make friends. It seems you have managed that now? When you have the time, tell me more about these new friends.

Are your senpai treating you well? Make sure you give them the deserved respect, Naoto, you may never know what help the bond formed with them may provide to you at a later time in your life.

And while we are on that topic, dear, this Tatsumi. Now, don't get me wrong, I read what you wrote, again, with great interest. As such I am fully understanding that you feel he is of no direct concern at this time. Still, you seemed to have singled him out in the last correspondence. If he is not a problem, and I will believe you when you say he is not, he still took a prominent role in your last letter.

If I may, seeing you seemed a bit torn on the subject, maybe it would help if you speak about your thoughts concerning him with me freely? It should be clear to you as well that there are conflicting interests which could potentially disrupt your work. As work seems to have you stressed, I propose you might wish to seek his assistance in your case, as a local outsider.

Know that I love you and want you to succeed, Naoto. If I can help with this, you know I will.

Have you had a chance to check in back home? You may wish to give Yakushiji a call sometime this week; it will be his birthday soon and you know he cares about you as well. I am certain he would be pleased to hear from you.

I know getting on the phone at even roughly a manageable time for both of us is tricky. Do not worry about the lack of a call. We will catch up soon.


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto's first excursion into the TV world could have gone so much worse than it turned out to be. For a start, she did not have to fight anything yet. ...then again, fighting will mean getting used to the rather annoying bug that seems to be her Persona...

**October 8th, 2011**

 

"So… uh… H-How much do ya actually remember from, ya know, that night?" the male voice beside her rumbled quietly.

After the team had given Hanamura-senpai their school bags to store away somewhere in the back, Naoto had lingered behind Narukami and Hanamura else as they headed into the super store. Tatsumi stood near, not looking at her.

"You mean… after…"

"Yeah. Ya were pretty much out of it."

She did not raise her eyes to meet his – or in fact look anywhere. She let her mind drift. There was mention of Junes, she recalled. And there was mention of TVs before when they talked. But from that night as such...

She swallowed and replied just as softly, "I do not seem to be able to recall much. Your assessment of my state is sadly quite on point."

Getting used to how much he and his peers knew and understood her was startling. A detective should operate from shadows, should observe, not be observed. Still, this investigation team seemed to have a knack for noticing things. In that regard, they could all still climb to certain heights in her own chosen profession, should they so wish.

He made a dismissive sound, reaching first for one arm, stretching, then repeating the motion with his other. Naoto could hear a faint, unpleasant-sounding grating and hoped it was simply something he was wearing, not actually joints or muscle.

"Don't say that like that." At this, she did peer at him from under her cap. He frowned, still not looking at her, his eyes following their senpai as they vanished through the doors. "We're lucky we got to ya when we did. Coulda been worse. Coulda been… much worse," he finished softly, reached down to the shield leaning against his leg and hoisted it up. He finally looked at her, an odd expression on his face. "Let's go."

They quietly started to walk inside, following the others at a distance.

"No one complains about you carrying _that_ around inside the store?"

"Mhm? Heh, na. They used ta… then Yosuke-senpai explained that we're in the drama club, see? It's a prop an' we're coming here for other stuff for school an' such. No one bothered to ask much after that."

"Surely they must notice that what you carry is not plastic or _papier_ - _mâché_?"

"Eer… well, dunno. Maybe 's because I carry it aroun' an' no one bothers ta try an' pick it up?"

Naoto's eyes slowly wandered sideways, eyeing him. He did appear to carry the heavy-looking shield effortlessly. However, her trained eye easily caught that the only reason he was able to do this was hard, trained muscle. Each step his upper arm and shoulder flexed, balancing himself against the weight of it, and she would have been surprised if either of the other boys in their group would have been able to hoist or bear the weight this easily.

She shook her head and turned away from him. How the team had so far managed to avoid notice was astounding. Seeing how this was a very small town, anything new should have been suspect to the inhabitants of Inaba and patrons of Junes. And yet, somehow it fully escaped the notice of any adults.

She nearly walked into the shield he used to point. "We go up here," Kanji said, pointing up the escalator.

"Ah, of course. The electronics section."

She stepped on the moving stairway and let her gaze wander over the floor as she ascended to the next level. Turning her head she found herself at eyelevel with Tatsumi, who flushed and dropped his gaze when she gave him a nervous smile.

She did appreciate him 'hanging around' after the others had started to move inside. The general atmosphere seemed to be a jovial one, especially after Narukami had explained that this would only be to show her the basics and have a look at her _Persona_. When it turned out Satonaka and Amagi were busy, he said he would rather not have an excursion with proper combat just yet.

She left Tatsumi take the lead once more and ended up in the electronics section, surrounded by television sets.

After a few minutes Narukami turned to her with a smile. "So, you're ready for this?"

"That is the goal of today's excursion."

"Great. Ladies first?"

Her eyes widened and her head whipped around to stare at her senpai. "I-You…" She closed her eyes for a moment, then straightened up. "So… I should just climb in?"

He nodded. "Easy, right?"

Naoto's eyes wandered to the screen he indicated. _Impossible. It should be absolutely, utterly impossible. I know the mechanics and electronics involved, I know the physics involved. Nothing about this should work._

She reached out and pressed her hand to the screen, feeling a cool tingle and saw her hand dip inside. After a moment she shrank back. _Impossible!_ What's more, there were people all around them. _Surely someone had seen…_ Glancing around, no one seemed to take notice. Still.

"Here? With all these customers?"

Ha nodded again. "Exactly."

"It is amazing you have yet to be spotted," Naoto mused. Turning to Hanamura she continued, "I would assume you spent a significant amount of time first to specifically analyse customer traffic before planning your excursions?"

"Er... not exactly." he replied a sheepish smile. "It's Inaba. Kinda hard to sell huge TVs here."

 _Reckless_. The pattern of youthful ignorance and sheer stupidity apparently was repeating itself over and over. The whole team cruised on pure luck and chance. As Naoto was about to open her mouth to inform them that they are a much larger group now and should be considering such matters, Narukami simply strode up to the screen and pushed his entire arm in.

He smiled at her as he waved the arm in and out of view. "See? Nothing bad happens," as he proceeded to lower himself towards the big television set.

"I didn't think it would," she protested, glancing around the shop floor again. "But, senpai, there are customers present and-"

"Hey, Senpai, wait up!"

The junior Shirogane flinched at the loud shriek from behind them. Rise "Risette" Kujikawa was headed towards them at full speed, and thanks to her … very nature of 'being in clear sight', customers all around them turned to look towards her. Naoto noticed that her senpai used that distraction to drop himself into the screen fully, vanishing immediately.

The idol skittered to a halt near her friends and seemed to only just then realize she was on everyone's radar. "Oops. Sorry," she whispered, with an apologetic wince. "But why was Senpai hanging halfway inside the TV?"

"To show off in front of Naoto-kun," Hanamura said cheerfully.

 _What?_ "Wh-why would he-" Naoto stumbled into a pile of fragmented sentences. Why would her senpai want to boast to her? He is the group's leader. He had no need to flaunt himself to her specifically. But then again, who else was here? Tucking down her cap hard, she took the information and shoved it away. Her peers were confusing at best. Annoying at worst. And irritating all the time.

From the corner of her eye she saw as Rise shoved straight past Kanji - muttering a string of unrepeatable things about Senpai as she did - and leapt inside the television set.

Her eyes remained fixed on the screen as it seemed to be … agitated by Rise's entry. As though the sturdy surface of the screen suddenly was subject to fluid dynamics. The patterns moved in a way not unlike a pond that had just had a stone dropped in it. The waves slowly spread before returning the monitor to a smooth, solid state.

"Don't sweat it, Naoto," Hanamura said, turned to face her. He gave Tatsumi a quick wink. "You've got a buddy here to help you out." With that he flipped himself into the monitor of the television and was gone.

Impossible. Purely impossible. Television sets are man-made machines; they are electronic devices. A telecommunication medium used for transmitting sound with moving images in monochrome or in colour. They have been built for decades and never once was anything like this recorded. Not once!

The mystic element of this whole scene bothered her. Naoto Shirogane functioned on facts and scientific evidence. Nothing about any of this actually supported either – aside from the fact of her abduction and consequent illness.

A voice pulled her thoughts back. "So... you gonna jump in?"

Tatsumi. Again he had remained back with her and she was grateful. He was something simple and solid in an intangible and rather ethereal situation. He could, if she were to use him, possibly be able to be a bridge between reality and mysticism.

Naoto's low voice cut through the quiet background noise of the store. It sounded a lot less steady than she attempted it to be. "What does your Persona look like?"

"Huh?"

"Your Persona. Appearance, abilities." Her gaze stayed fixed on the television screen. "I've questioned the others previously. What about yours?"

"Well... he's like a big skeleton and-" He stopped and she felt warmth spread over her face as he turned his head to gaze down at her. "I'll tell ya later, okay? We gotta go through, Senpai's gonna be pissed."

In everything Tatsumi could be, his knack to spot her discomfort and uncertainties came forward at the worst possible times. He must have noticed, why else… unless he genuinely worried about Narukami being upset with them. She had not yet seen how he led his team and her interactions with him oscillated from friendly, if quiet to sharp.

She straightened and set her shoulders. "Yes. I'm just-" She hesitated, toying with the brim of her cap then folding her arms. What the situation accumulated to was a possible leap of faith. She did not clearly remember what to expect, her memories of that night being a washed-out blur. She cleared her throat, started to speak. Stopped. Started again. Lowered her head. "Obviously, I need to-"

The feeling of strong apprehension started to take her over. She had not frozen up like this before anything in a long time. She was glad none of her professional peers were around to see her embarrassing state.

She was further glad no one else was present to see Tatsumi slowly reach out to offer her his hand. "You. Uh."

Naoto stared at it, then at him, then at the television. T _hey have been doing this for weeks. None have suffered ill effects. I have just observed three of them enter before me. I am being childish, and Tatsumi is rightfully treating me like a child._ "Unnecessary," she said, firm and steadily.

Without further hesitation she swung her torso in, expecting to step through the screen like a hole in a fence. The last she heard behind her was a startled sounding, "Wait, Naoto, y-"

When her foot did not connect on the other side and she felt herself slip in and actually fall, she let out a startled shriek. Thankfully the fall was not a far one, she fell, felt an impact moments later, then felt a second impact as something heavily dropped onto her.

Air was forced from her lungs in one go and she could not take a breath with this weight on her at first. While the impact had slightly shifted Tatsumi, he was now prone above her in a rather compromising position. His left arm and leg held her pinned down, much like someone who would shield another person from an explosive blast. Hanamura started loudly barking out a series of laughs and, in an embarrassed frenzy, she hammered her fists at Tatsumi. As he groggily turned his head, pushing himself up to look down at her, she snarled, "Get _off_ of me!"

He jumped away, rolling over his right side to get away. She saw the beginning blush on his face and feared the burn on her own would match his in short order.

She scrambled to her feet in turn, trying hard to ignore the wheezing and mirthful groans from Hanamura – she fleetingly wished Satonaka was here to keep him in check. Turning to face away from the group, she roughly tucked down her shirt, making a show of straightening her sleeves and reached up to tuck on her cap – only to find it missing. Almost at once she saw it enter her field of vision as someone – Tatsumi? – pushed it forward gently. Grabbing it roughly, she placed the cap on and pulled it low into her face in the vain hope to hide the bloom spreading over her face.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I just- You were gonna-"

Whatever he had meant to say was cut off by a very high voice. "Oh, I did that too! When we were in Tatsumi Port Island, remember?" Kujikawa bounced over with a beaming, suited Teddie in tow. "We should make it a team thing! Bonding by falling on Naoto-kun."

"Let's not," the detective supplied, her glare trying to pin down the idol and Teddie at the same time. She turned, her cap still held forward and down. Putting some distance between herself and her class mates, she targeted Hanamura and Narukami through the swath of bright mist, both failing at hiding their mirth. Miserably so, in Hanamura's case.

"I fail to see the humour in this situation, Hanamura-senpai. I could have been injured."

"Ah, but you weren't, so it's all good. Oh, man, never thought I'd see Kanji blush quite that quickly. Though you do bring out the best in him."

Her glare shifted from their senpai over her shoulder where she saw him loom over Kujikawa. Another argument. These two seemed to have a continuous issue in that department. Turning back, she fixed her eyes on Narukami.

"Yes. Well. If everyone's funny bone has been tickled quite enough, how about we finish with the horseplay and proceed with the plan for today?"

Narukami smiled warmly. "Yes. So, before we set out, a few things. Put on your glasses, the ones Teddie gave you."

"Ah, of course."

She reached for her breast pocket and pulled out the blue-rimmed glasses and gently put them on. The change was immediate and striking. While everything around her had appeared slightly blurred and washed out, she now saw clear contours and was able to actually see much further than before.

"Impressive…"

"Good. Do not take them off. Not only can you see better with them, but you'll won't suffer from the headaches you get if you are here for longer periods of time. We never set out without these and I trust everyone to make sure to tell Teddie if there is a problem with them, or if you get headaches at all. Okay?"

"Very well."

"Then: never wander off alone. We need our navigators, either Rise or Teddie, in a pinch, to make sure we do not get lost. This world does not work like home. Distances and time get warped and scrambled. Again, I don't want to lose anyone in here. I am sure we could find you if needed because Rise and Teddie know you a bit better now, but frankly I would rather not risk it."

"A wise precaution."

"Finally, your Persona. There's not a whole lot I can explain, I fear. We all seem to have been given this power with a certain characteristic. The way to bring forward your Persona is to 'summon' the tarot card bought to your characteristic. The direct way seems to be different for each one of us. I simply pretend that I am gathering energy and project it into my hand. Yosuke here told me that for him, it is more like a sudden insight. Yukiko mentioned that she 'projects herself', while Rise says she simply need to reach inside and feel us – and I have no idea what they mean by that."

He watched as Naoto's frown narrowed her eyes while she listened. "So, it is effectively something I need to find out on my own, is what you are saying."

He nodded. "Sorry."

"Living is learning. Shall we proceed to trying here and now?"

"No." He turned to face her classmates and Teddie. "Rise, are we ready?"

"Yep!" Kujikawa clasped her hands together, as …something shimmered hazily into view behind her. It appeared to be a very tall woman in a flowing, white robe. Her body seemed to be hidden behind a skin-tight, black bodysuit. Gazing up, Naoto saw her face extend in grotesque-seeming appendages, similar to a satellite dish. Kujikawa – Rise-san – had mentioned her to Naoto. Apparently she had a number of sensory abilities, but no 'real magic', whatever that had meant.

She lowered a visor over the eyes of the idol who turned her head slightly, then took the lead. "Just to the new shopping district, yes?"

"If you could, please," Narukami answered.

Naoto kept pace beside him. "Senpai, if Kujia-"

"A-Ah, Naoto-kun!" Kujikawa interrupted.

"- _Rise-san_ is without battle equipment, and I noticed no armor under her uniform, unlike with you or Tatsumi-kun, how is she kept safe?"

"Rise stays behind when we go fight. It's… easier to show than to explain, but basically she gets into our heads and can keep track of us and of the surroundings we are in. She can also sense if there is a problem, if shadows are approaching and so forth. You'll see. That's for another day."

They walked in silence after this, Naoto trying to process the information given. Without a solid reference for this world, absorbing the details seemed difficult.

The words "Okay, Naoto-kun, you're with me," brought her back. Kujikawa held the visor pushed up, giving her a winning smile. "We won't know what comes from your heart, so we may want to stand back just a bit."

Nodding in silent agreement, Naoto followed till they were about 10 paces away from everyone else.

"Okay. Do whatever feels right, Naoto-kun. This is something we cannot show you."

"Yes. Well." She lowered her head and pondered a moment. "When you…. Rise-san, when you call forth your Persona, do you feel or do something specific?"

"Not really. I mean, saying 'Persona' seems to help focus things a bit. And then I simply draw my hopes or feelings for the others forward. I guess I, kinda… I just focus on what I need to do, you know?"

_What I need to do. I need to find a murderer and bring him to justice. I need to find my place with these teens. I need to be strong. I need to be useful, so they allow me to continue working with them. I need to … I …. I need to … I need to be more than I am now._

While thinking to herself, her eyes slid shut and she felt a tingle forming in her chest, in the back of her mind. She turned her head sharply to her right and saw a blue card glitter before her. She watched as it slowly turned before her, showing a black-and-white mask on one side and a geometric shape on the other.

"Persona," she whispered, pulling her revolver from her hidden holster in a fluent motion and shoot at the card. It shattered in a rather impossible manner and a blue light exploded from it.

The light faded, and in its place hovered… a bug.

"Good job!" Narukami called.

A small bee-like bug in a blue-and-white uniform with gold buttons and cloth-like wings hanging down its back. Naoto glanced at the tall Persona behand Rise-san, then looked at the blue… thing before her. It saluted her with what looked like a sword made of light.

"Why is it still-" she stopped, gun still held at her side. _Why is it so TINY?_ Her gaze shifted from her Persona, to the group, then back to her Persona again.

"The, the size," she continued. "You all described yours as-" The sentence stayed unfinished as she stared her Persona up and down.

"Naoto-kun," Narukami said carefully, "there's nothing wrong with-"

Hanamura cut in. "Dude, it's smaller than she is."

"Uniform's neat," Tatsumi supplied.

"It's so cute!" trilled Kujikawa, her fingers pressed to her lips.

"Shut up," Naoto snapped, storming past the liquor store and down the street, the terrible small blue figure obediently hovering after her.

_imsohappytomeetyou_

The high-pitched whine came back. A side-effect of the TV World?

_ivebeensoexcitedtomeetyoufinally_

Her steps slowed. It was almost like words…

_pleasestopwalkingawaywehavesomuchtotalkabout_

'…to talk about?' she thought.

_yesimrightherepleasestop_

With slowly widening eyes, Naoto turned. The bee-face regarded her with bright, intelligent eyes. As she observed it, some lines on its face shifted and it appeared to smile. The buzzing she had first noticed the night after being pulled out by the team and the same buzzing she heard now…. It was this creature?

'You…?'

_hello_

'You… can read my thoughts?'

_yes_

'How?' She slowly lowered herself to the ground, legs moved into a cross-legged position.

_iamyouyouareI_

'I am not sure I understand.' Naoto tilted her head, watching the small Persona.

_yourshadowwasyourselfiamyourself_

'You are saying, as much as my shadow was part of my repressed psyche, so you're part of my self.'

_yesIamSukuna-Hikonaand-_

'I find it hard to believe that I seek to project myself as a … small insect to the world.'

 _hurtful_ , the creature chirped shrilly. _imeverythingyouseektobe,_ it continued, _strongandpowerfulandconfidentandsmartandspeedy_ -

'..and tiny.'

She heard steps crunch closer and tuned out of the conversation in her head.

"You okay?" Tatsumi, again. He had a knack today for trying to be her support. Honestly, she had expected it to be Kujikawa.

She gestured forward. "It's called Sukuna-Hikona. It told me," she introduced the creature.

_IamnotanitIamaHe_

Naoto shook her head slowly. 'As you say.' She turned to Tatsumi. "Sorry, not it. Him."

She watched in surprise how he crouched beside her and leaned his arms on his knees. "Hey there," he mumbled.

Sukuna-Hikona buzzed back. _itsapleasuretoseeyouhere_

Naoto leaned back on her hands, brow creased in thought. "Narukami-senpai has informed me that most Personas are based upon mythological beings. I will research this one." She pursed her lips, her eyes still on the … _bee-general_ as it kept happily chattering about how he had seen so much while with her already and how he was hoping to stay closer to her now and wouldn't it be wonderful if we could take strolls in the outside world and-

"You don't sound happy."

"He's..." She gestured vaguely towards the Persona, her frown turning glum. "His size. I thought... well, as I understand it, he is- He is… not as large as the others."

_thatisyouronlythought?_

'No, but it is a concern.'

_whywouldyoucareaboutmysizedoesitreallymattertoyou_

Clearly.

_youarebeingunjustimascapableasanyoftheothers_

Kanji frowned. "He don't sound none too happy either."

"So he's informed me," Naoto said dryly. "After a fashion. It's more as if he's-"

"Putting things in your head, right?"

She nodded. "Excessively so," she replied, still trying to tune out the high-pitched humming that was her Persona's voice.

"Y'know, Senpai's got a couple that sm-that look like that, too," Tatsumi stuttered. "It doesn't mean they can't do nothing."

"Anything. Not nothing," Naoto answered absently. "But what exactly does he do?"

_allkindaofthingsifyoulikemeto_

'Like what?'

_icanswingatthingsforyou_

'I have a weapon.'

_icancastmagics_

'Magics?'

 _lightanddarkandsomeelementsand_ -

She tuned out again and turned her head toward Tatsumi. "He's mentioned light and dark. Are those useful?"

His eyes widened. "Uh... "

Naoto tilted her head slightly to acknowledge a new arrival.

"It's like this," Hanamura supplied, hunkering down between them, giving the small Persona a nod as it saluted its light-sword at him. "Light and dark kill almost anything outright."

"Really?"

"But you'll spend fifty years trying to hit something. Just ask Yu." Yosuke clapped her on the back, sparking another jolt. "Good luck, Naoto-kun!"

He grinned and returned to Narukami and Kujikawa, who stood back, chatting.

_itsabsolutelynotuselesshesgotnoidea_

Naoto, who'd been glowering at Yosuke's back as he walked away, turned back to her Persona and glared at him instead.

'I'd rather if you could go back to where you came from.'

_butyouneedmeIamyou_

'Can you then perhaps leave me to my own thoughts?'

 _illbeyourstrongestallyyourbestfriendyourpartnerinthiswordandintherealone_ -

'Can you please just _leave me_ in peace for a while?'

"Maybe he can do something else too," Tatsumi offered quietly.

"Disappearing would be a start. I can't seem to make him go away."

"Why don'cha ask him?"

"I just did," she muttered crossly. "He isn't cooperating."

"Well, just imagine it." He tapped the side of his head. "Think of him going back inside."

_ivewaitedsolongtobehereandtalktoyou_

'We will talk again. Go.'

_no_

Naoto glowered at her Persona. That last chirp had sounded… defiant. Sulky. She leaned forward, brow furrowed slightly.

'You will go to your room' she growled in her mind.

Sukuna-Hikona vanished immediately. Her eyebrows rose in surprise, and she turned to face him. "I'm not certain how that worked - but thank you, Tatsumi-kun."

"No worries." He beamed at her. She seemed to at least manage as well as could be expected of her with her Persona. That was some comfort. "And don't think about it too much," he added softly.

She hummed thoughtfully. "Rationalizing this may be futile. At the very least, it would waste valuable time." She climbed to her feet, quick and agile, and brushed the dirt from her pants. "We should return to the group."

The buzzing was still in her mind, and it was louder than it had been in the previous days since she left … since she was rescued from her Shadow. But it seemed easier to now ignore it. She could choose if she wanted to pay attention to it or not.

Tatsumi fell in with her and they walked back to their friends, Teddie spotting them and waving happily.

"How often does your Persona speak?" she asked him after a short while.

He shrugged. "Not often. And he don't use words much. More feelings and sounds. Yours?"

"He's certainly had a great deal to say so far," she said flatly. "Most of it unhelpful." Every time she tuned in for a short while, he chirped happily at her, trying to tell her about frivolous things such as its apparent prowess in combat, how only a strong person like herself could have a strong, grounded Persona as him-

"He's... you know he's you, right?"

"I find that a challenge to believe," Naoto muttered, slowly finding the inner volume dial to muffle down the Persona.

They rejoined the others shortly after and Kujikawa bounced over to hug her.

"Your little guy is _so sweet_ , oh, I just love him!"

"You recognized he prefers to be called 'he'?"

"Of course, silly. I scanned him!"

"Scanned…" Naoto prompted.

Tatsumi crossed his arms, ready to reply, but it was Narukami who answered.

"Rise isn't just out navigator through the mist, she also scans shadows, Personas and us. She can tell a lot about the things she can see."

"Does…" Naoto tucked her cap down to his her biting her lip. "Does he measure up?"

"Yea, he does, Naoto-kun. I thought I saw something really powerful. Something that'll take a lot of focus and concentration from you to bring out. But I will need to see him fight to understand him better."

She pushed her cap back up and let her eyes wander over them.

Teddie nodded. "He's special, but I'm not sure I understand why. My nose used to be a better sniffer on these things, but since I faced my Shadow-"

" _You_ faced your Shadow?" she interrupted him.

"Yes! And since then, Kintoki-Douji can be really active, but he just isn't very good at sniffing out things any longer."

"I see." She felt a little better at hearing this. A Persona could change over time. Maybe her's could, then, too.

"Ya did good today," Tatsumi offered, scratching his neck.

"I'll say!" Kujikawa skipped over to cling to his arm. "And now we can start going out do the real stuff!"

"No, Rise," Narukami offered gently, "I said a short visit, nothing more. Let's head back. It will be soon enough before we have a day again where everyone is ready to head out."

"Aw, but _senpai_!"

"Please, Rise. Let's head back."

She tried to quietly appeal to Tatsumi, who made a point of not looking at her. Her gaze went to Teddie and he lifted his bear-suit-paws at her.

"Oh, alright." She let go of Tatsumi, Naoto noticing the slight shift that showed her he relaxed his shoulders, and Kujikawa summoned her Persona once more, guiding them to the backlot.

The junior Shirogane spend this time walking mainly by herself, working on different mental filters to bring forward or push back her very chatty Persona.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> So, as mentioned in the first chapter of ETF: Work has become very busy for me, so I will not be able to keep up with a weekly update for Distance Formula - sorry. I am already working on the next chapter right now, but I will not be able to get these out weekly for the time being. I do hope to manage bi-monthly, so you guys won't be stuck like you were over the holidays.:)


	28. Chapter Twenty-eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time to get some hands-on experience in fighting shadows! Naoto, guided by her new team, is learning the hard way that a gun seems to be a melee weapon, that Kanji has a thick head and that her Persona can actually be very useful indeed.

**October 9th, 2011**

* * *

 

 

Following Rise Kujikawa and her elegant persona, Naoto forced herself into steady breathing exercises. That she still felt on edge after the argument - _no, the slightly heated discussion_ \- before they had set out, did not help her in this endeavour.

 

_"The best place to start would be in the Secret Laboratory," Narukami started the meeting at the 'Backlot'. "If it is with Naoto the same as with Kanji, then she will be about as strong as we are already, so we won't need to hold back."_

_"Senpai!" The outrage in Tatsumi-kun's voice made everyone around him jump. "Ya can't be serious! She's been through hell, we should at least give her ... ya know..."_

_"Easier targets?" Satonaka-senpai did not sound impressed. "If Yu, Yuki and myself head in with her, there's nothing we can't keep off her back if she_ does _have a problem - which I seriously don't see happening. I mean, when we brought you up to speed, you hopped right in with us after Rise."_

_"Well... yeah, but I-I... I ain't... I mean..." his eyes darted to Naoto, then to Yukiko, then to Rise, seeming almost pleading._

_Rise nodded. "Senpai, I don't mind, really, but maybe running her though the basics out at the Game or ... or even... you know, other places-"_

_"-even the bath house-" Again Tatsumi shouted loud enough to be heard back in the real world, and this time his blush stretched from ear to ear._

_"-sure, the bath house might be a good place, actually, just so we can get her used to..."_

_She trailed off when she saw Narukami-senpai cross his arms and slowly but deliberately wave a hand before his chest. "No, Rise, no. I need to see how strong she is. If anything we look at dies in two or three hits, she might not even get a shot at things."_

Tatsumi had tried to argue her case all the way through the mist. He would still be at it, if not their senpai had told him something rather quietly and he backed off, keeping an uneasy eye on her from there on.

 

_youlldogreatyouhavemenow_

 

'I wish I had your outlook on things.'

 

 _yourescared_?

 

'Of course not!'

 

_butyoudontwanttodothis_

 

'Not there. Never there. It's... it's...'

 

The fog started to turn into the contours of a non-descript forest setting, a small, low building, akin to a small bunker, riddled with antennae, cameras and thick steel doors. Faint recollection stirred. She had collapsed out here, fainted just after leaving the tunnels and fallen into someone... someone had caught her and called her _reckless_ of all things.

 

Seeing it in the light of day, as it were, was every bit as embarrassing as she had pictured it. _This_ was what her psyche had decided would be the ideal place to host her persona, her publicly facing mask. A childish, ridiculous fantasy. And not only did her newfound peers already explore it, now she had to re-live it. Lightning striking her down right now would be a welcome turn of events.

 

Rise-san's persona vanished and she turned, giving the group a smile. "Well! We're here. Get ready. I’ll be with Senpai, of course, but I don’t know the teams yet."

 

With that, the idol turned and walked towards Tatsumi, who stood the furthest back. She noticed Satonaka and Amagi turn towards Narukami purposefully. The beginning of an argument became audible. Amagi just sternly pointed out something about taking Tatsumi-kun being a stupid idea, if they already brought Satonaka. She was unsure what that meant, but she decided that she would not get involved in this.

 

She tried to step aside and give the other members of her team some space, but Satonaka, who had been smirking at the building, turned to her. "Featherman, huh?" she beamed at the smaller girl.

 

The junior Shirogane grabbed the brim of her cap and tucked on it roughly. "That, that isn't-"

 

"You were a fan, Chie?" Narukami asked, seemingly happy to have this segue to escape Amagi's stern words.

 

She shook her head. "Nope. Yukiko was, though.” Narukami turned to the girl, who started to turn into a similar shade of red as her cardigan. “Made me watch it all the time." She dropped her voice to a stage whisper. "She had a major crush on the Red Hawk."

 

"N-No I didn't! And I was eight!" She crossed her arms, a glare passing from Satonaka to Narukami.

 

"I don't blame you, Yukiko-senpai," chirped Rise-san, flashing a brilliant, _flirty_ smile at Narukami. "There's something about leaders, huh?" Naoto stiffened at the display.

 

Hanamura, who had found a place to sit back under a nearby tree and was busily fending off Teddie's attempts to take off his headphones, glanced over with a snort. "No way! The Yellow Owl was the coolest."

 

"Oh yeah, I remember him," Satonaka said thoughtfully, then giving Amagi is pointed look. "Total dork."

 

 _At least someone is enjoying themselves_ , Naoto thought bitterly. The whole thing was just embarrassing. And, yes, she had been a fan. She still _was_ a fan, having bought the latest DVD set only before she had accepted the job in Inaba that was still turning her life inside-out. She struggled to accept that the teasing around her was in fact friendly, struggled with the concept of a polite insult. Trying to rile one another up seemed to be a much enjoyed part-time with the group and she had no actual guidelines on how this interaction was to take place. What was in bad taste? What was the actual goal?

 

She had not been paying much attention to the animated discussion, simply grateful that the focus had shifted away from her… and her overly active subconscious. She was aware of someone standing closer to her, but she did not pay them any mind at first.

 

"So, uh...which one did you wanna be?"

 

Naoto looked up. "Hmm?" _Ah, Tatsumi._ She could always trust on him to try and bridge gaps in the social structure. Her Grandfather’s last e-mail surfaced in the back of her mind, and maybe he was right. Her over-reaction at his suggestions may have simply been her misunderstanding what the elder Shirogane had meant to say. She mentioned Tatsumi to her guardian often and called the rather too-tall boy a support in her social structure simply because he factually _was_.

 

The blonde watched her, then shifted. "The rangers. Featherman." He eyed her, his back slowly slouching in that slightly bend stance he seemed to adopt when standing near her. Looking to the ground, he reached for a shoulder and stretched out the attached arm slowly. "I-I wanted to be the Orange Sparrow. Guy could dart around like nothing else."

 

Her eyebrows arched with surprise. The Sparrow was not exactly the same archetype she would have placed the large teen into. "Not the Black Condor?"

 

He stopped and his eyes unfocussed. She watched, her training kicking in without her actually intending to. She observed as his eyes slowly turned towards his left and up. He was remembering something. "He was okay. Knew how to fight. Did ya wanna be him?" His expression had turned into a small frown as he turned to look back at her.

 

"No, I-" She cut herself off.

 

Discussing her childish dreaming about being a world-defending _sentai_ ; how she played at being one of them, being one of the _male_ cast, naturally, as the females generally were somewhat on the annoying side… This would be opening up a black hole of discussion she was unlikely to escape – especially if he was familiar with the series. This locale already told them more than she would wish to.

 

"I-I hardly think discussing a children's television show is relevant to the task at hand."

 

Tatsumi simply watched her, not even seeming to form a reply to that.

 

She turned her attention from him and observed the group. Their dynamics were fascinating in a number of cases.

 

While Satonaka and Amagi would show the clean, strong bond of a long-lasting friendship, there was another bond between the sporty girl and Hanamura… though a bit of an odd one. They seemed to be locked into an eternal battle of taunting and insults… and yet she hardly ever noticed the signs of actual, true hurt in their expressions or behaviour. It also appeared to be rather normal, as none of the others ever interfered or attempted to soothe things over.

 

Amagi stole glances over to Narukami during most of this exchange. Naoto took note of her open body language. Turned to face him frequently, her hands never crossing her chest, her smile picked up whenever they talked. There was definite interest in her actions and movements. She wondered briefly if her _senpai_ were in fact courting, or if Amagi’s interest was nothing more than that.

 

Kujikawa – _Rise-san_ – was a bit of a puzzle. While she gave the clear and open signs of her relationship with Tatsumi, she seemed to focus a lot of her energies into Narukami as well, going so far to also attach herself to his arm on occasion. Her flirting ways seemed to go back and forth between the two boys, and neither of them seemed to mind. Then again, who would mind being granted attention by a _bona fide_ idol? But that both of them did not mind how her attention was divided between them struck her as odd. She might need to revise how she classified Ku- _Rise’s_ approach to others, especially the males in their group.

 

Teddie… Teddie confused her. His behaviour was hardly predictable, and she was unsure on what his normal behaviour would be. How does a shadow behave? How does a ‘normal’ shadow act?

 

"Come on, guys.” Narukami clapped his hands loudly to cut through the still ongoing discussions on the latest instalment of Featherman. “We don't want to spend all day on this." He gestured to Amagi, Hanamura and Teddie. "You three build the backup team.” He looked at the small ball of red poof sitting near him. “And I guess Kitsune-kun will be with you as well. Don’t spend yourself too much, though. I might need to swap you in later. Rise, you’re with us, please."

 

Naoto was about to feel her nerves lock her up again, when she felt a hand on her elbow. She looked up at Satonaka, who gave her a winning smile. “Let’s go, Naoto-kun! Let these slackers bring up the rear guard, we’re women of action!” She felt her feet move on their own alongside the happily chatting girl, who was still on the topic of Featherman. “Man, that show needed more girls. I’m also kinda glad they are getting away from having the girls be kidnapped all the time. I swear, they used to be more of a burden on the team than actually helping things along.”

 

With this, she felt herself be tugged forward into the red-and-black swirl that appeared to be the entrance. The casual chatter along with the ease with which the older girl simply walked in helped bring down her own discomfort. She felt a sensation similar to the one she had when they first entered the television at Junes, then the atmosphere changed and her heart started to hammer hard against her ribs.

 

Panic clawed up inside as she took her first breath of acidic, cool air. It smelled of plastic and metal and ozone. She noticed the vapours pouring from the vents set along the floor and ceiling and wondered yet again if these fumes were noxious. Her right hand clamped down on the revolver in its hidden holster and she felt both breathing and heartrate climb up. "I… I hadn't seen it before. Just the laboratory. And-and a few monitors."

 

Satonaka said something, but she could not register it. She jumped when she heard heavy steps fall behind her and turned around quickly to see Tatsumi and Narukami enter, alongside the second team. Swallowing her pride, she decided she would try to appeal once more to the group’s leader. "Could we-isn't there somewhere else we could-"

 

"Nope," Narukami said evenly. “We talked about this earlier.”

 

Satonaka nodded. "Gotta do it sometime, Naoto-kun. C'mon, let's find you some Shadows to beat." She tipped her chin toward the corridor ahead and slapped her on the shoulder lightly.

 

Naoto nodded dully and watched as her _senpai_ moved forward, chatting pleasantly amongst themselves. Her eyes trailed up the walls to the rounded ceiling and back down to the catwalk. The raised metal grate ran over more tubes and vents and she had the sudden urge to check the tether of her revolver.

 

Fighting herself to set her feet into motion, she noticed shortly after that Tatsumi had not jointed the team up front and hung back with her.

 

"Hey...s'alright, yeah?" he said quietly. "’s not like your Shadow's here now."

 

A surge of anger and embarrassment made her fling her arm wide, taking in the floor, walls and ceiling. "This. Why would I... It is utterly childish. A secret base," she muttered, starting to walk. Behind her, she head Hanamura call out to them, as they took another turn down the hallway, their groups splitting up.

 

"C'mon," the bleached blonde coaxed. "It ain't that bad, believe me."

 

"It should be something different. A...a..." She tipped up her chin. "A detective agency, or a police station, or-or a study." She nodded. Something sensible. Why would her subconscious, which had given her the mannerisms and behaviour needed to be the Detective Prince… Why would she…

 

"Yeah, well. Rise's was a strip club."

 

Her head lifted slowly and she stared at the young man, blinking a few times. “Kujikawa…?”

 

"Buh-but I didn't tell you that, right?" he stammered quietly. "Rise, she won't just kill me, she'll-" He swallowed. "Do something a thousand times worse. Millions."

 

The junior Shirogane frowned at him, blinked again, and almost walked into her two _senpai_. They had stopped dead in the corridor, both now staring through a nearby door. She could not see much, but she noticed Tatsumi stand up straight – _he’s just so_ tall! – and his expression changed. She stepped to stand beside Satonaka and followed their glances. A swirling, dark mass seemed to ooze and float about the room aimlessly.

 

Their leader was bent on one knee, his palm pressed against the floor. "I think we've found a target," he murmured.

 

_ Honestly, Senpai. Rushing in and starting fights with poor, innocent Shadows...I thought Kanji-kun was the bad influence! _

 

Naoto started. She had grown somewhat used to the high-speed stream of consciousness that was her persona speaking to her, but this was an actual and quite familiar voice. Somehow Rise Kujikawa spoke to them and she had to shake her head to dislodge the strange feeling of hearing the slightly echoing voice of someone who was not whispering into both her ears at once – even though this was exactly what it appeared to be. She turned and looked to her side, seeing her stand, hands lightly folded, her Persona holding the visor over her face. Her lips were curled into a slight smile, but other than that, she had not moved – and not actually _spoken_ to them, either.

 

Narukami chuckled drily. "Sorry, Rise. I'm leading the others astray." He glanced over his shoulder. "Including Naoto-kun here. Ready, Naoto?"

 

Naoto answered, her self steeled and all doubts replaced with professionalism. _This is a criminal, Shirogane. Consider them armed and dangerous. Any hesitation could bring this raid to a bitter end. Nothing about this is a game or a TV show or similar frivolous activity._ “Of course I am.”

 

He nodded, slowly getting to his feet as he spoke. "On three, then. One, two-"

 

"Three!" Satonaka burst out with a chuckle, launching herself straight from a crouch to a forward dash. Naoto took this as her sign to jump into action as well. She had been poised to rush, and if a team leader in a raid gave the signal, there never was time to hesitate. Satonaka gave her a sign to fan out, so she sprinted sideways, her revolver at the ready, taking up a flanking position across from the older girl. Rise-san had not moved in with them, she remained in the hallway, barely visible.

 

Naoto shifted her attention from her teammates, including the two boys running after them and their aid in forming a square-flank around the mass, to eye the shadow itself. She lifted her weapon and trained it straight into the centre of the mass… as it started to pulse. It grew, twisting, seemingly looking at each of them with glowing eyes, turning, expanding. As she watched, the mass parted into three; two seemingly roughly humanoid, the other … a statue of sorts? Her arm drooped, her grip on the revolver growing slack. "Wh-what-" she started - then braced herself once more, her expression levelling out as she took aim.

 

_ Okay! Two Gigas and a Relic, guys. Remember, no physicals, no fire - and Kanji-kun, no electricity! _

 

Naoto tried to keep up with the instructions, but before she could even form the question ‘What is a Gigas, actually?’, the creatures formed into solid beings and turned their attention on the group.

 

_wecandothiseasyeasy_

 

Her Persona seemed ready and rearing to go… the problem was, she was unsure on how to actually go about combat using him.

 

_ Also, no physicals on the Relic, either, but it's weak to fire. _

 

"Chie and I will take the Gigas. Kanji, Naoto, you've got the Relic."

 

The cobalt-haired girl tore her eyes away from the Shadows long enough to give their leader a brief nod. She noticed Tatsumi shift closer towards her.

 

Well, he must be feeling rather useless at this point. Going by his gear, physical attacks are an area of expertise for him. Luckily she carried a firearm. She backed away, plated her feet, angled her gun, and pulled the trigger. The bullet ricocheted off the Relic's head, striking the floor barely two steps in front of her.

 

Naoto swallowed hard, her gaze drawn to the spot her bullet had just vanished to.

 

Near her, she heard as Tatsumi-kun crushed his card in one hand. "Take-Mikazuchi!"

 

The detectives’ eyes widened as an utterly enormous persona crackled into life and lurched forward, fist outstretched to match Tatsumi's own. She actually felt her hand sink and her mouth tip open as she tried to comprehend the sheer size of it. A bolt of lightning crashed down into the Shadow, knocking it back.

 

_letmeletmetrythat_

 

The Relic rocked forward again, creaking and grinding, and sent a burst of flame roaring towards Naoto.

 

Her eyes narrowed while she observed each of the motions of the … thing. _If I could try to fire a shot inside of that… creature, surely only the outside of the cabinet that just opened would be shielding it from my shots…_

 

"Naoto! Move!"

 

 _I only need to ensure that it is lulled into the belief that I… NOW!_ At the last possible moment Naoto dodged. Ducking to the left, still moving, she fired off a second shot that glanced off the Relic and into the wall behind her. _That… that should have been a direct hit. I know the shot went straight for my aimed-for area…_

 

"Put the frickin' gun away," Tatsumi hollered from almost beside her.

 

Across the room, Narukami-senpai echoed him. "Naoto, you have to use your Persona!"

 

_letmegoicandothisletmecomeout_

 

_ Naoto, you’ll need to use magic, anything you throw at it, your bullets included, will just bounce. _

 

While she was being pretty much yelled at from all directions, she pulled the puzzled frown into slowly seething anger. Gun arm still raised, Naoto held out her other palm, her arcana flashing into existence before her. She grabbed it, flicked it forward and let it, shatter around a bullet a blink later.

Sukuna-Hikona spiralled out and now she was able to clearly hear him.

 

_finallyicanshowyouwhaticando-letsuselight_

 

‘Hama…’ Naoto whispered, unsure where that knowledge had come from.

 

Her persona slashed across the Shadow, light sword outstretched, odd runes glowing in the wake of his blade.

 

As her Persona faded, the Hama-runes faded away as well. Left behind was the Relic shrugging off the spell as if she had never cast it.

 

Her mind went fuzzy for a moment as her persona returned and she felt her focus go for a moment.

 

_dontworrythisisnormalyourejustgettingtireddontworrydontworry_

 

Again the ‘Relic’ creaked and its hinged front snapped open. Tatsumi dropped to his knees and threw up his shield. A furious wind blasted against him, whipping his coat around his shoulders.

 

That same wind caught her moments later and picked her up, throwing her hard into one of the room’s computer-screen-covered walls. Naoto felt the first impact, then slid to the ground, losing consciousness.

 

_…cannotstayheremustwakemustgetupplease_

 

_ Guys, Naoto got knocked down, can anyone help her? _

 

“Shit, you okay?”

 

Naoto stared up and saw a darkish blob slowly form into the concerned face of Kanji Tatsumi. Her breath coming in gasps, narrow shoulders heaving, struggling to fight the air the impact had forced _out_ back _into_ her lungs. She tasted something metallic and running the back of her hand over her mouth confirmed that she had bitten her cheek upon impact.

 

"Wh-what are you-" she finally stuttered out, realising that she had not stared _up_ , but _forward…_ and his hands gripped her in a fairly familiar way! _Wh- … Why… What is he…_ Her eyes suddenly snapped into focus and, flushing, she smacked both fists hard against his biceps.

 

His hands jerked back as if he had touched a hot surface. "You-you alright? You hurt? Dammit, I shoulda been-"

 

She glared at him, hoping the blush that threatened to hit her would be kept at bay. "Move," she muttered, yanking her pistol back by its cord and shoving past him. Facing forward, eyes tracking the Relic's movements, she darted away. She ran a lazy circle around the shadow, the _relic,_ and tried to watch for a weak point. She skittered to a halt and raised her gun once more. The relic swivelled towards her and suddenly jumped forward. Naoto barely had time to throw her arms before her face as it crashed against her, sending her staggering.

 

In the back she heard Tatsumi roar for his persona once more and she threw herself sideways as lightning crashed down around the shadow.

 

_‘What do you know that will hit this and deal it a good blow?’_

_iknowsomethingbutyoullfeelverytired_

_‘I need it. I need to show my value.’_

_Mightnotneeditcanpossiblytrysomethingweaker-_

_‘The strongest thing you know!’_

_megidola_

 

Her Persona, generally excited about getting to work, sounded very reluctant at that suggestion. And while Naoto had no clear idea what it meant with either ‘feeling tired’ or the word it said, she knew she needed to make herself more useful. So far, she had failed the team and she simply _had_ to establish herself now. _‘Do it.’_

 

“Persona!” She shot into her arcana, shattering it.

 

She heard Tatsumi run towards her. "Naoto, you know that ain't gonna-"

 

As she watched, Sukuna-Hikona darted forward, sword held out, before her vision flashed white.

 

If she had understood what the implication of the spell was or could even understand what had happened, she would have prepared better. Instead she saw and felt blinding, searing pain all around her. The air smelled of static and she felt air first being sucked out of her lungs, then felt it being pushed out, as if she was trapped in a collapsing and expanding confined space. When she started to see more than just shapes and raw contours, all three Shadows exploded into motes of light and dark. The air sizzled as they sputtered out of existence.

 

Hovering over them, Sukuna-Hikona buzzed at her.

 

_didyouseethatthatiswhatwecandotogether_

_‘I saw. And, more importantly, so did they …thank you’_

 

He saluted with his light sword, did a little loop back to her side and then disappeared.

 

_ Yeah, Himiko finally figured it out! Megidola. Knew there was something I was missing. Naoto-kun just needed a little push. _

 

Naoto nodded and ran the back of her hand over her mouth once more. It felt as if she had not only bitten her cheek, but possibly also injured her lip in the impact earlier.

 

_ Hey! Not talking to any of the others right now. Are you okay? Kanji seems worried you got hurt? _

 

“I am fine,” Naoto muttered, wondering if her answer would register to their supporter.

 

_ That’s cool, I didn’t think you’d be too hurt. I just wanted to make sure, Kanji-kun is reeeeally worried about you. _

 

The older girl hesitated at that comment. Why would Tatsumi-kun give her a specific amount of attention over the others? She turned her head and saw him stare off into empty space, seemingly arguing with himself.

 

"Awesome, Naoto-kun!" Satonaka-senpai bounded over from the other side of the room, skidded to a halt, and raised her palm in front of Naoto who, in confusion, attempted to return the seemingly awkward handshake. "Right, Yu?"

 

"Good job, guys. That was a little more hectic than I'd have liked," Narukami replied with a nod, wiping at his forehead.

 

"No kidding. Felt kinda useless there," Satonaka signed, hanging her shoulders a bit.

 

Naoto bowed her head at her upperclassmen. "You contributed admirably, Satonaka-senpai. Both of you were able to hold off a significant amount of damage while I still scrambled to understand the basics."

 

"C'mon, stop that. You don't have to flatter me. I know what I'm good at."

 

"You did fine," their leader insisted, giving his classmate a warm smile which was replied to with a blush and a coy look.. "It's rare we hit a fight like that. Trial by fire," he added, with a smile at Naoto.

 

She nodded back. "Indeed. Please excuse me, senpai," she said - then turned around and looked straight at Tatsumi. There was still the matter of establishing herself - and so long as he would try to shield her and hold her back, she would not be able to prove her value to the team. If anything, he had highlighted her weakness, something she could not simply take without a fight. She crossed the gap between them in seconds, each step quick and decisive, fists clenched at her sides. She _would_ make sure he would not undermine her in this.

 

The detetive stopped a pace away and stared up at him, eyes narrowed almost into slits. "Tatsumi-kun, what were your intentions during that battle?"

 

His eyes widened first, but then he gazed away from her, to his right. "What d'you mean?" A falsehood. He knew precisely what she meant.

 

"Stopping your offensive. Offering me assistance. There was no strategic purpose in it. I don't under-" Naoto stopped, glanced away, and started over. She _did_ understand, all too well. He saw her as weak, a burden to the team. "If I had suffered a severe injury, perhaps it would have been justified, but I-" ... _had it under control? Was fully capable of contributing? Did not need you to protect me?_ None of these answers touched on what she feared his ulterior motive was. She knew he cared, he had shown so repeatedly in the months she had known him. But right now, that was still only just conjecture. She tucked her cap angrily, then shoved it back up and looked him in the eye. "Why?"

 

"Uh-I-well. First battle, y'know." He shrugged and opened his arms a little, his palm outstretched to the room around them.

 

His answer was similar to her own experiences of the situation. She had struggled somewhat to keep up; had misunderstood a few commands and tips from Rise-san. Further, they _had_ been grouped by their leader, so a certain level of guardianship was likely to be expected.

 

"I...suppose that's acceptable," she said carefully, still holding his gaze. "But refrain from doing so again. It isn't necessary." She was about to nod and leave it at that, when he spoke up once more.

 

He shrugged. "Just tryin' to help," he mumbled.

 

Naoto bristled. This was precisely what she had feared then. His impression of her as incapable of solving her own affairs. His drive to guard her. That she was so much smaller than him was likely to be an amplifying factor in all of this as well. It made her so _angry_ , so _frustrated_ , that even now she still had to fight for her stance in this group. The acceptance they preached was only that, words. It was still up to Naoto Shirogane to prove herself, and deliver proof she would.

 

Her jaw tightened, her eyes narrowed again, and the next sentence came out rushed and had an edge. "I understand that I am new to this, Tatsumi, and that you have all been working with your Personas for far longer, but believe me when I say that I am perfectly capable of handling-"

 

"I know that! Just, you got smacked into-I, I thought you were hurt. An' you were!"

 

His interruption did nothing to ease her mood. It did not matter he was somewhat correct in his statement. If anything, her following reply was sharper than the previous one. "A cut lip hardly qualifies as an injury - and as an electricity user, it was far more risky for you to involve yourself." When surprise passed over his face, she snorted. "I _did_ pay attention to the briefings I was given. I know how used skills affect weaknesses."

 

"Don't matter," he muttered through the small gap left between his clenched teeth.

 

"You should concentrate on the task at hand and your own safety. If I need anyone's help, I will ask for it."

 

"You mean when you're out cold on the frickin' floor?" He did not even look at her as he snarled these words, only lifting his head when he pressed his lips back together.

 

He was being infuriatingly stubborn. And his height annoyed her as well. And the way he sulked. She pulled herself up and leaned in on him, actually making him flinch back. "Tatsumi," she said, very quietly. "I have told you before. I do _not_ require _babysitting_." She spat that last word with as much disgust as she could muster.

 

She held his gaze and the fire in his eyes went from rage to smoulder, then to something else entirely before his eyes jerked away from her.

 

"Fine." She kept her eyes on him. He looked back at her and flinched. "Fine," he repeated, growling deep in his throat. "Won't do it again. First fight, s'all."

 

Naoto gave a single, brisk nod. "Good. Now, excuse me."

 

She turned on her heels, strode over to the wall by the door and started to reload her revolver brusquely. The blush on her face should have been anger, but confusingly... it wasn't.

 

_thatwasveryniceofhim_

_'Be quiet.'_

_hewantstobeyourfriendyouknowthat_

_'Sukuna-kun, be quiet.'_

 

She roughly snapped the chamber shut and busied herself with checking over the hammer mechanism cocking and uncocking the hammer a few times.

 

_whyareyoubeingsorough?_

_'Because his involvement... he is... he... Just be silent for now.'_

 

Her persona did fall quiet at that, only the faintest of buzzing in the back of her head.

 

* * *

 

 

 _Guys, if you could give me a few minutes with Naoto-kun, please? I think I can help her understand a few things before the next fight_.

 

Narukami, who had tilted his head up and stared into nothing as all of them seemed to instinctively do when Rise addressed them, nodded. "Okay, Rise, take your time, I need to think up a better plan for the next encounter. We're all starting to run low of energy out here."

 

 _Great, thanks, Senpai_!

 

She noticed Tatsumi give her a weary look before he stepped aside with their two senpai.

 

 _Hey, Naoto-kun! You're doing great so far_!

 

"Thank you, Rise-san. But I seem to still struggle with a few things." Naoto found it weird how Rise still spoke through her persona, even though she was only a few paces away from her. “You could just talk to me, you know…”

 

She heard a chuckle whispered into both ears at once. _That’s kind of true, but I need to keep an eye out for Shadows and such. I actually never let go of Himiko once we’re inside. And as for your struggles: That's totally normal at first. Call your persona for me, please, I wanna look at something_.

 

Naoto nodded and her card appeared. Not wanting to startle her team, she simply crushed the card in her hand and watched her bee-faced Persona dart forward.

 

_himikochan_ , he chirped, greeting Rise's Persona, then smiled and saluted Naoto. 

 

'Hello, Sukuna-kun...'

 

 _Oh, good, you guys seem friendlier now_.

 

Naoto stiffened. "You can hear him?"

 

_ Hear your persona? Not really. But you no longer get all defensive around him, like when you first met. _

 

The detective relaxed. "Well. Yes." With a tuck of her cap, she glanced towards the others. "What was it you wished to talk about?"

 

_ So, you'll notice you've started to feel very exhausted - mentally. Each time you bring forth your persona and each time you order them to use a magic-based attack, you spend spiritual energy. _

 

"That sounds... way too mystical to actually be a thing," Naoto sighed. She took off her cap and ran a hand through her cobalt-blue hair. "However, I do feel as if I have been reading a scientific text for several hours..."

 

_ That's what I mean. Each attack you make drains you. And not only that, if you ask Sukuna-Hikona to attack physically, you'll feel physical exhaustion. _

 

"Ah... yes, I noticed that..."

 

The other girl grunted. _I cannot believe Senpai didn't explain any of this._

 

"He might have," Naoto conceded and smiled, her voice warming, "but your explanations make more sense. Thank you, Rise-san."

 

 _Oh... Good!_ She heard the smile in the other girls' voice. _Well, so keep this in mind: The bigger the bang, the more exhausted you will feel. Sukunua-Hikona knows a few basic element spells as well. I know light and dark are tempting, but they hit so rarely, and, really, unless something is weak to it, you might as well use something,_ anything _, else. I don't want to have Kanji carry you out again, okay?_

 

Unbidden, Naoto's eyes travelled to Tatsumi. He had his back bent, both hands grasping his shield, leaning forward on it. And he was watching her. The moment their gazes met, he jerked his head away, looking at the floor, but it was clear he had been trying to keep an eye on her even now. "Rise-san... did you ask him to look out for me specifically?"

 

_ Oh Naoto-kun. That's not something I'd have to tell him. _

 

Her eyes stayed on the tall boy and she caught him several more times trying to sneak glances in her direction, till she saw Satonaka-senpai elbow him sharply in the ribs.

 

Her thoughts went back to her previous thoughts on the idol and the young delinquent. There was a dynamic there that confused her. However - they were on a mission. It would need to wait exploring that puzzle.

 

"As you say, Rise-san. So what is your advice? Use magic as a last resort?"

 

 _Use it, but keep in mind that you can only do so much. Actually, talk to senpai. You have a number of hard-hitting abilities with your little guy here, you may be the team's ace up the sleeve against a number of strong opponents_.

 

"Very well. Thank you for your guidance, Rise-san."

 

 _Sure thing_! There was no change in the volume or sensation, but when Kujikawa spoke up next, Naoto noticed the other team members turn their heads and their expressions getting the far-away gaze. _Right, sorry that took so long, just wanted to make sure Naoto-kun is on top of her game_!

 

"Thank you, Rise. We're ready for the next round, too. You're okay, Naoto?"

 

She simply nodded, gazing at the ground. She felt their eyes on her and she wanted to make sure they understood her determination to be a valuable team addition. She could not afford distractions from that.

 

* * *

 

 

"Naoto-kun! Catch!"

 

Running past her senpai in a wide arc, trying to pull the fire of a Panzer away from Tatsumi, Naoto caught an antibiotic gel, ducked under a shell and skidded to a halt in front of Tatsumi. Behind her she heard Satonaka and Narukami invoke together for another joined attack while she grabbed him by his collar and yanked sharply. "On your FEET, Tatsumi!" She shoved the antibiotic gel into his hand and turned, seeing the Royal Dancer lurch towards them.

 

_itsnearlydoneforletmehitithard_

 

_'Very well.'_

 

She scrambled up, springing away from her prone teammate and circled around the dancers as they tried to slash at her. Willing her arcana into existence, she ran backwards a few steps, firing into its centre. "Sukuna-Hikona! Slash it!"

 

She kept her gun on the enemy, watching as he took some of her strength and ran his sword straight through the shadow, which exploded into motes of light and shadow. One moment later she heard the groan of metal as the Panzer suffered a similar fate at the hands of Satonaka.

 

 _Great job, you guys_!

 

Narukami let his sword arm sink and rubbed the back of his hand over his brow. "Yeah... but we're done for today. We're headed back out, Rise, let the others know, please."

 

 _Sure thing, Senpai_.

 

Naoto found she could tune out their navigator, to a degree, and did so now as she glowered at Kanji Tatsumi. Satonaka-senpai walked over and held her hand out to him, helping him get back on his feet.

 

"You did really well today, Naoto-kun." Narukami-senpai smiled at her, his sword resting easily against his shoulder.

 

She removed a few empty casings and replaced ammunition into the empty chambers. Engrossed with this, and unable to make herself look up, she muttered, "I was valuable then?"

 

"Yes, very much so. I just wish I hadn't taken Kanji with us. Don't get me wrong, he is great at what he does, but with you in the team, he didn't bring the balance we needed." He turned and gave a frown as he watched the two bruisers talk. "I'd like to bring you back here in a few days. But with another team. I want to see how you can function in a more balanced group."

 

She nodded.

 

Part of her was relieved that Tatsumi's interference had not cost her any standing with the group. Their leader found her skills valuable and he already planned coming back to train her up and bring her skills on par with the rest of the group.

 

Part of her was sad to think that maybe she and Tatsumi could not work together as a team. When asking herself why it would matter if he was in the same group or not, the answer was rather simple. _I know him. Have known him the longest out of these others. Had enjoyable companionship when he visited me. I'd have liked to learn to work closer with him._

 

"Naoto-kun? Let's go!" She looked up and saw she was the last one still in the small room. Kujikawa, Tatsumi and Narukami had already started heading outside, to the swirling black-and-red gate created by a magic item their leader had carried.

 

"Ah, yes. I am sorry, Satonaka-senpai." She fell in step with the other girl. "Is... Is Tatsumi-san all right?"

 

"Mhm? Oh, Kanji's fine. Got a head thicker than mine, if he had gone through the wall he'd still have been okay. Don't worry about him."

 

The smaller girl bristled and tucked her cap. "I'd have inquired about you or any other member of the team as well."

 

"Mhm, I know. Yeesh, I am tired. I don't need to rely on magic this much usually."

 

They stepped through and were soon after joined by the others. The moment Amagi saw them, she hurried over to speak quietly to her friend and classmate. Her persona shimmered into existence, spreading its wings over her and Chie as a blue glow washed over her. Immediately the other girl stood straighter and stretched out. They hugged and laughed about something the girl in the red cardigan said.

 

Naoto turned away from them. If anything, she wanted some quiet right now. Time to process everything that had happened in the last hour or so that they had been out.

_youreallyshowedthemtoday_

_'Yes. Thank you for your hard work.'_

_icantwaittogooutagain_

_'I am sure we will have ample opportunity, Sukuna-kun,'_

_imgladyoudidntyellatmesomuchtoday_

 

She stiffened. _'if you'd like to continue this positive trend, I suggest you leave me to my thoughts for a while now.'_

_youwantmetogoealready_ It sounded disappointed.

 

_'If you please?'_

 

The silence that answered was most welcome.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are as huge a fan of "Shortest Distance from A to B" as myself, you'll have noticed that we're starting to move from vanilla Persona 4 into The Golden stronger. I've made changes to the interactions between the team and how they explore the TV world based on what we can see when exploring the world in Golden. The team doesn't stay behind, we split up into two teams and fight our way as main team, with Rise, and secondary team, with only her guidance from her Persona.
> 
> It is one of the smaller changes, but you'll start seeing them more throughout the story as we progress.
> 
> ...and yes. This means DF will split from AtoB in a number of places, not least of all December/January/February...


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> High School life for the Detective Prince can be daunting. Especially when having to deal with the unwanted attentions of her classmates or third-year senpai...

**October 11** **th** **, 2011**

 

Naoto stood up and moved to stand beside her desk. "The answer would be seventy-five percent."

Their math teacher nodded. "Based on which formula did you come to that conclusion?" She turned to the blackboard, chalk in hand, waiting for Naoto to dictate the answer.

"Seeing as the lines are drawn side-to-side through the centre of the rectangle, you can deduce that, if we letter the fields," she nodded as the teacher moved their chalk into the approximation of the geometric shape, "A, B, C on top, D, E, F at the bottom and G and H to either side; this leads to the equations A = D, B = E, C = F and finally G = H. The exercise called for F, B and D to be highlighted-" Chime rang out, stopping their lesson.

"Oh, is that the time already? Hold on, hold on! Thank you, Shirogane-kun. Class, I will be writing the homework on the board, please make sure you review what we discussed today!"

Naoto sat back down, picked up her pen and started to note down their assignments into her calendar. Between more frequent excursions into the Shadow World and her social engagements, she was glad she had a study group with Tatsumi and Kujikawacoming up. She could use the time to work on some of this, surely.

While writing, Naoto noticed someone step in front of her desk. A female. And it seemed she was holding a bento box. Going through the list of which girls had not recently troubled her, she picked out the most likely culprit. Her pen slowed and she sighed, putting it down before folding her hands on her notebook and slowly looking up.

"Can I assist you, Enomoto-san?"

Before her desk stood Magumi Enomoto, one of her female classmates. One of the very much infatuated ones, if she had correctly identified the penmanship on a number of the letters she had recently disposed of. Now that Naoto eyed the girl coolly, she spotted none of the typical flirting, none of the generally very enamoured behaviour. However, her eyes glistened and her breathing was irregular.

Her classmate laughed weakly. "Did you know there is a rumour you're actually a girl?"

The junior Shirogane inclined her head. Once she comprehended how her senpai had found her, plus the possibility that her ordeal had been broadcasted on the midnight channel, she had dreaded this. Her first day of school had confirmed it, but it had also confirmed that the rumour, at this time, was only that.

"But of course… that's not true," the other girl desperately continued, her eyes searching the blue-hair framed face before her.

"Whether or not it is true does not change anything. I do not hold much by rumour. They are an entertainment for the weak-spirited, who cannot deal living with reality." By all rights some god should have struck her down for this comment. "I am who I am. Nothing else needs to be anyone else's concern."

The girl standing in front of her desk pressed her lips together and stared at the ground. "Yes… right… you're right, of course." Her voice was thin and fragile, but a smile crept onto her face slowly. "Of course, you're right. I am sorry for asking such awkward questions."

"Do not let it trouble you. Just follow your own goals. The goal of most rumour is to seek harm, so do not let it sway you." Naoto went to pick up her pen and continue writing.

"Ah… so, Naoto… kun…" Her voice turned into a whisper and stopped.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to ask… I make my own lunches, you see, and I tried a new recipe. Would you… would you like to try some?"

The pen stilled, then was slowly placed into the notebook and its pages closed upon it. Without looking up, Naoto said, "I do not think that would send the right message."

"What?"

"It is considered a romantic gesture; to offer someone you hold an interest in a self-prepared meal. It's an ancient and rather outdated evaluation rite of the skills and abilities of the woman in a relationship." She looked up and leaned forward a bit, making sure her following words would get the girls attention. "I am not willing to evaluate your skills, Enomoto-san."

Naoto was sure she heard a small gasp behind them. _Of course. Her entourage._ She did not acknowledge their presence, keeping eyes on the girl in front of her.

Emotion flickered over the face of her classmate as Naoto held her gaze. _This is why you need to avoid randomly throwing your heart at the feet of anyone who you consider to look handsome. She should be glad she is learning this lesson in a risk-free environment with me._ The feelings she was able to pick out seemed to run from simple disappointment through heartbreak all the way into anger. Whichever it was, Naoto would deal with it.

Truthfully, this was doing the girl a favour. She was of considerate beauty, Naoto estimated when comparing her with her peers, and if she were to try her advances on the hormone-laden boys in their school, she could expect to be hurt in the process.

Enomoto broke the moment of silence, her voice sounding strained. "Why?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Why do you have to be like this? Why are you always so cold towards me? What do I have to do? Why won't you be a little more-"

The junior detective had started shaking her head and finally interrupted the girl. "I am how I always am. I am who I _really_ am."

"But you aren't even giving me a chance! I try and I try and you won't even give me one single smile or just one single kind word!"

Naoto held the desperate gaze of the girl for a moment, then sighed. "Seeing I do not wish to encourage you in your efforts, doing either of these would be counter-productive. I have previously informed you I am not interested in any romantic engagements." Naoto steepled her fingers and glanced at her fingertips. "However. Your choice to continuously persist is your own and will not rest on my shoulders."

By now tears glistened in her eyes. "But why won't you even give me a chance? I could be what you're missing, what you need!"

"To give you a chance, I'd need to firstly know if there was any interest on my own part in this. Which, I assure you, there is not. Without any basic interest in you or your advances, why would I encourage you?"

During her dispassionate speech, Magumi Enomoto had started to draw in on herself, scrunching up, shaking. "You're not even sorry."

"I have nothing to apologise for."

And this was when Naoto suddenly saw tiny, bright stars explode all across her vision. She slowly lifted a hand to her cheek and watched, dumbfounded, as the other girl cried out, raising both her hands to her mouth, tears now falling, running over her cheeks. "I… I…" She stumbled backwards into the nearest chair and bolted, her two friends running after her, one of them shooting Naoto a venomous glare over her shoulder.

 _She struck me… simply reached out and struck me, right across the face._ The Detective Prince hissed at the sting and glanced at her fingers, seeing small traces of red. _And due to her long nails apparently also scratched me._

She got up, heading towards the bathroom.

If anyone had taken notice of their exchange in the hallway, no one felt the need to comment or address her regarding it. Naoto shook her head, lamenting the futile games that girls played to capture the interest of their romantic interests as she pushed the door to the men's room open on auto-pilot and stepped in. She turned to the mirrors, pulling her cap of, and ran her fingers over the three small parallel cuts. Nothing a bit of soap and water couldn't help with.

She washed her hands, rubbing some soapy water over her cheek and splashed her face with more cold water to discourage a red mark from forming.

She had not paid attention to her surroundings and thus missed the coming and going of her fellow male students. That is, until one of them spoke up.

"Hah, did little _Shirogane-kun_ get his ass handed?"

Sighing, Naoto turned to grab a paper towel and dry her face. "Sonoda-senpai," she greeted, keeping her voice even and neutral.

"Looks like someone didn't like what you had to say. Nearly perfect handprint right there."

"So it would appear, senpai," she turned, tucking her cap back on, and clasped her hands behind her back.

" _Senpai_ ," she heard someone trill behind the tall boy and she flicked her gaze to see behind him. As she should have expected, _his_ little group of friends also wouldn't leave him for long. She nodded a greeting to them, then looked back at Sonoda.

"Stuff it, Jin," he growled over his shoulder, only to get a snicker in reply. "So, what did you do this time, Shirogane? Been a little know-it-all in class? Made someone look dumb?"

"Nothing of the kind. I simply informed one of the girls in my class that her attentions towards me as unnecessary and I am not inclined to pursue a relationship with her."

"Yeah," he replied drily, "knowing your stiff ass, those were pretty much the same words you used."

She shrugged. "I felt the direct and clear approach to be the best option."

"Your best option, really, would be to ask for help. As your senpai, I'd be happy to give you some pointers with the girls. Let me guess, the one who approached you ain't your type and you're after that Kujikawa girl?" He smugly crossed his arms and leaned his hip against the sink. "Not sure that's quite your league, Shirogane-kun."

She pinched her eyes shut for a moment. _Wish that were the case, but it seems there is no way to actually get her to ignore you once her sights are set…_ "Rise-san and myself have an understanding already, I do not need to encourage her any further," Naoto replied with a shudder.

However, the eyes of the boys in front of her widened. One crony in the back mumbled 'Rise-san...?' and Naoto cursed herself for having slipped into using the idol's first name. The idol had been so adamant about this in the past weeks, that not doing so felt odd now. As rarely as she spoke to those outside the group, she had further forgotten to keep her professionalism in place. _Foolish. Idiotic, Shirogane, this is no different than being at work at the station. No one needs to know how much pestering one has to endure from her, it could harm her image._

In an admittedly sub-standard attempt of hiding her previous choice of words, Naoto continued. "Kujikawa-san and I hold no specific interest towards one another."

"Wow, and here I thought myself as a bit of a stallion, but you already got _Rise-san_ wrapped around your little finger! No wonder you're a picky brat now!"

She scoffed. "Please, Sonoda-senpai, it really is not like that. I have repeatedly informed the girls who insist on shoving their attentions at me, that I have no interest in them."

"Not even Risette?"

"She is a... good companion. A valued classmate. But, no, no interest." She crossed her arms. "You show an exorbitant amount of interest in my personal affairs, Sonoda-senpai, and I would thank you if you would cease your inquest."

The boys blinked, then started to laugh. From behind him, one of the boys snickered. "Yes, _senpai_ , you should _cease_ your _inquest_!" Laughter broke out fully now, but Naoto simply held her ground, watching them.

"Shut it!" He glared over his shoulder, then turned to watch Naoto a moment longer. "Well. You should talk to me more. I'll help ya, Shirogane-kun. I'm your senpai, after all. I'd be happy to help ya out."

This was when Yosuke walked in. "Man, they closed the other two floors for cleaning, and- Oh, yo, Naoto-kun!" He paused and frowned. "Eer... why are you here? Is there a problem?"

"No problem, Hanamura-senpai," she quickly said, her eyes going wide. She had using this bathroom since she joined Yasogami High School, but never once had actually encountered any of those who were aware of her actual gender for certain. Having Yosuke in here put that fact into the foreground of her mind and she swallowed hard.

"Hey, Sonoda, problem?"

"What? No! Why do you care?"

"Well, Naoto-kun and I hang out. I'm h-" frantic hand signs made him trail off and change gear, "Us senpai need to keep an eye on our kohai, right?"

"Yeah, Hanamura- _kohai_ , you better remember that." Sonoda glared at her and the second year, then brushed past his friends and left.

Naoto grabbed on to the rows of sinks and sighed. "I appreciate your discretion, Hanamura-senpai."

"Yeah, don't sweat it. Did he drag you in here or something? Are you all right?"

"I have... never stopped using this as my bathroom," she began, glancing down, "and with the way the girls behave around me, doing it any other way would seem..." She trailed off. Saying it out loud now seemed odd, especially when talking to someone about it, who knew the truth.

"Ah." That was all he supplied to the conversation.

"Will you inform the faculty?"

"What? No! Why should I care where you pee, man? Just don't try standing up for it, eh?" He chuckled and ducked into one of the stalls as she nodded her thanks and walked out.

 

* * *

 

"Oh, stop pouting, Naoto-kun!"

Rise-san's outrageous comment needed no response. Naoto was still fighting off the anger at Yosuke-senpai's earlier comment before she was changed out in a team training exercise. She had, perhaps foolishly, assumed that after his earlier cover at school, they had advanced to a better understanding. However, his hurtful remarks about her occupation, her height or her struggle to fortify her position with the group in their exercises. Besides, she had only followed Yu-senpai's direction!

She glowered at the wall, and it was not for the first time she felt like swearing since she joined the group. But that would not only be unbecoming of a Shirogane, it would not change the fact that Hanamura had pointed out, in the presence of everyone, how her repeated use of Hama-based spells had yielded no results.

_iamsosorry_

_'It is nothing you did, Sukuna-kun.'_

_butyouareangry_

_'I am not angry at you.'_

_itsoundsangryinhere_

This made her pause _. 'In here?'_

 _alltheseangrythoughts_ She could envision her tiny personal squirm. _soangryiwannahelp_

_'There is nothing you can do. We did what we were asked to do.'_

The unhappy chirping continued, but she pushed him back into her inner self, no longer communicating with him.

"Useless," she finally muttered aloud. "As if he would know."

"It's Yosuke-senpai!" Rise-san insisted, then slouched back in her seat and tugged irritably at a loose strand of hair. "He was only kidding." Why she sounded like she was sulking over this, Naoto could not fathom. "Right, Kanji-kun?"

With her frown locked onto the wall, starting to feel a mild headache from the stiff frown in her forehead, she saw a small nod from the large teen. _He is so tall!_

"Right," he repeated, sounded as if he had not paid any attention at all. For Tatsumi-kun, that was on par with his normal attention span on most things.

She stared at them both in turn, then turned to glare past the fence, the path their senpai had taken over ten minutes ago now. Her fingers moved over the edge of her cap, lost in thought. She needed to prove herself. Make sure that Yu-senpai would take her along more frequently. Help her get stronger. Her fingers slipped under the stripped fabric bordering her cap from the brim and she found herself pausing to fumble with it around the middle. It sagged slightly. Was it coming loose?

"Perhaps I ought to have- I have not had the opportunity to train as much as you. Nor have I had- I have not taken the time to fully learn the commands of spells or... My studies have been…lopsided, possibly." Her hand had shifted to the table now, fingertips pressing hard against the surface, and she shook her head. "I simply did not think I could be of any use in-"

"You're not useless, you couldn't be!" Tatsumi suddenly insisted, slamming a hand on the table for emphasis. She stared at his hand, so close to hers she imagined she could feel his body heat. His random outbursts of passion could be strangely potent and, as in this case, oddly comforting. For a feeling moment, she wondered if he had actually intended to bring his hand down on her own and simply pulled back. She glanced from her hand to him and back again, frowned, then tipped down her chin. _Speaking of useless. That line of thought very much was so_. "R-regardless," she started, surprised her words felt heavy on her tongue, "Hanamura-senpai had no right to say that. The police have called me many things, but not..." The sentence trailed off into nothing. _Never useless. Never that. That was the one thing I have going for myself, against the odds of my gender and age. I am not useless. ...am I?_ Her glare softened, turning her frown of anger into one of worry.

All three of them fell silent.

 _'So what good are you then?' he had said. Sure, he winked. It might have been a joke. But it still hurt. I should have told him, then and there._ But he was her senpai, no matter how much of an arrogant fool he seemed to be at times... while at other times he was so supportive. It seemed as if he had drawn clear circles, around himself, his friends and others. If anyone tried to cross over the lines he put up, he changed. Like with Sonoda. She had heard a co-worker some years ago mentioned this once. 'No one messes with my little brother but me!' Was that the relationship he had envisioned with her?

Tatsumi stuttered into the fragment of a sentence and she surfaced from her thoughts. "So. You, uh." _Eloquent as ever..._

_stopbeingmeanitsnothisfault_

_'I doubt he needs you to defend him.'_

"Y-You were serious 'bout coaching me? And-And Rise?"

Naoto stop arguing with Sukuna-Hikona and looked up. "Of course. I offered before." She swept her arm at her two fellow First Years. "Besides, the two of you clearly require instruction to ensure an adequate performance." She had seen their previous exam results and especially Tatsumi-kun needed serious assistance. Kujikawa seemed to slip under everyone's radar simply by merit of her fame. In her case, it may have simply been a lack of focus. In his case, she assumed the teachers had given up on him due to his image and he simply did not get the needed attention from the staff to succeed.

"Thanks, Naoto-kun," Rise-san huffed. "We really needed you to tell us how dumb we are."

 _What?_ She stared blankly for a full five seconds before her forehead creased into a frown. _Why would she say that?_ "That isn't what I meant."

"Rise's teasing," he blurted. "S'nice of you. Offerin' ta help."

"Ah." Hesitating, Naoto shifted slightly in her chair, glancing between her two team mates. Somehow they did not sound fully sincere, but she had offered and at least Tatsumi-kun seemed sincere in his desire to better himself. "Well, I-it was Rise-san's idea, originally. And, and I feel I should..." Her gaze drifted to the side, remembering once more her deal with Yu-senpai, "I should... Make an effort, I suppose."

"Y-you don't have to," Tatsumi blurted out. "If you don't want."

"It's no trouble to me, Tatsumi-kun. And it would benefit you both." She gave them both her best honest regard. Truthfully, it could benefit her as well, as she often put studying off to work on a case for the Estate or for trying to work on the case on her own, seeing the other teens did not seem to be overly interested.

He gave an affirmative noise, at least that was what it sounded like. He seemed to still fumble with words frequently, so she would take this as an enthusiastic 'Yes, of course' and simply move on. "Is that agreeable, Rise-san?"

The idol sighed and burrowed further into her padded jacket. "I guess."

Naoto gave a quick, firm nod. "Then it is agreed. We shall meet here tomorrow, after school."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone' patience while I worked out some stuff and side-tracked with other fics. I sincerely hope I am back on track now. :3


	30. Chapter Thirty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learning is hard. Teaching can be harder. But isn't all life about learning, Detective Shirogane?

**October 12nd, 2011**

 

It really should not be this difficult. Naoto had given countless presentations, directed innumerable meetings and briefings. She knew what was important for these interactions. Give the outline, ascertain the goal, and finally proceed to investigate the issue, bringing the task to completion.

It was simple. It was something she had done for men and women twice her age – and more! Then why was it that her peers were so utterly resistant to moving past the outline stage? Every time she did, she felt them resisting, trying to move back in the agenda.

It was here that Rise sprawled over the table in a dramatic display of exhaustion. "Naoto-kun, I give up. I can't study any _more_."

The junior Shirogane closed her eyes for a moment. Kujikawa had not only shown a clear disinterest in the subject at hand, she had repeatedly been distracting Tatsumi. Who, she mused, had been surprisingly on point with his questions when he spoke up. Well, this was not the first time she had to bring a dispassionate member of a meeting to task. "Nonsense," she insisted. "You simply are not sufficiently focused."

The idol huffed and a moment later, he flinched. _If she wishes to ignore the outburst, I am willing to do so as well._ “So, if you simply follow the formula outlined, and we know the formula based on-“

"Why can't we do this indoors, anyway?" Rise whined, folding her arms and … well, pouting. "Like at the library?"

Naoto shook her head. She had considered other options, but the distraction factor would be too high during lunch in a class room, especially with the fans Rise drew wherever she appeared. And the library… "I cannot instruct you there. As you should be aware, talking is forbidden. If this were a simple matter of working on our homework, which I would also be happy to offer, then yes."

"But it's cold! I'm gonna freeze!"

"I assure you, Rise-san, the weather is fine,” Naoto replied through gritted teeth.

" _Whatever_ , Naoto."

At this, he winced yet again, then ducked his head and studied his textbook. At least _someone_ was actually attempting to bring forth any effort here.

This only left Rise. It was not that Naoto was uninterested in her peers, and she was quite certain she understood her unrest – after all, she felt it herself. "I understand that the case is more pressing than schoolwork, but-"

"That's not why I can't concentrate," Rise snapped. "This stuff is just _boring_."

"Regardless of your personal enthusiasm for school work, your lack of interest in the topic is _not_ an excuse to fail your exams."

"I got by fine last time!"

The cobalt-haired girl shook her head. "I doubt that. I understand you have had a successful music career, but you-"

"Since when were you my mom?" Rise narrowed her eyes, hovering dangerously close to a sneer. "Don't be such a know-it-all."

Naoto swallowed hard. For one, because this was entirely uncalled for on part of the idol. For another… she just sounded and even looked a lot like a number of police officials she had to work with in the past. "I am not-"

"Like you know anything!" snapped the other girl, leaning forward, trying to boost her height. Not a new trick, and one Naoto had trained herself to be immune to. Her reaction, slowly straightening up, put a buffer of cool, clinical mannerism between them. But it did not soothe the idol, she seemed to hit her stride now. "I'm gonna hire translators for the English and I'll get accountants to do the numbers and if I want anything else, I-I'll make someone look it up online!"

"That's- “ _utterly preposterous, a waste of resources and would put you at the mercy of someone whom you could easily_ – No, it was clear the girl would not listen to reason. She needed facts, grounded in the now. “There's no excuse for apathy, or-or _laziness_!"

"I'm not lazy! You just suck as a tutor!"

Tatsumi seemed to try and interject, but she would not stand for such an utterly wrong attestation of her work. She had spent an hour last night to prepare for today! "My explanations have been perfectly clear! If you're incapable of understanding them, then-"

"Oh, so now I'm stupid again?"

"That isn't what I said, but obviously you're just hearing-"

His fist thumped into the table hard enough to shake it. "Dammit, I don't wanna listen to this crap! Keep going on like this and we won't get nothing done."

The words ‘ _Double_ Negative’ lay heavy on her tongue, but she stopped herself, swallowing the observation. She would need to tutor him in a smaller group to work on correcting his use of language. Before she was able to re-formulate her words to agree and resume their work, Kujikawa continued.

"Not everyone's as strung out as you, Naoto," she snapped, standing up and slamming both palms against the table surface. "You need to get over yourself!"

This quite effectively stunned her into silence. Not because of the threatening motion, she had seen men trying this on here who were three times the tiny idol’s size. And it was also not because of the rejection of her work, though that did sting.

Her choice of words left her with an odd feeling. Strung out? As in devoted, surely? Being focused and goal-driven is the key to solving any case set before her. Indeed, it was the way to approach anything in life. Identify the situation, plan the way ahead, execute. Trying to do it in any other way would be foolish at best and dangerous at worst. But why had Kujikawa wielded these words as if they were an insult?

With that parting-shot however - and a final angry huff - Rise grabbed her bag, slipped out from the bench, then stalked across the food court and through the store doors.

Naoto had not seen most of that exit, however. Her eyes were fixed on the table, unseeing, her hands slowly curling into fists. It was not a fair observation of her goals at all. Or of her skills. _Was_ it an insult? How could anyone see her drive, her striving to be better than anyone else, be used in such a manner? But alone the intent to insult her was it, that drove her anger into new heights. It was petty. It was unbecoming. It was rude!

Tatsumi cleared his throat once more. "Don't hold it against her," he offered. "She's just pissed; she'll get over it."

"Rise's episodes do not concern me." Naoto stared firmly at her hands, her lips drawn in a narrow line. That he'd come to her rescue was a given, of course, even though it ilked her. "This was purely a gesture of goodwill. She's being ungrateful. And there was absolutely nothing wrong with my methodology," Naoto added, voice confident, as she folded her arms and leaned back from the table. Her long record of both investigative briefings, directing officers to the catch culprits and even a few press interviews proved this.

Her eyes flitted to the boy briefly. At least Tatsumi had tried. He seemed to continuously lag about two minutes behind her explanation, but he had tried to keep up, to take her up on the offer. Kujikawa clearly did not have any intention to do so from the very start. What a waste of an afternoon.

"Uh... well," Tatsumi started, hesitating. She lifted her head to look across the table at him. "I kinda understand how she feels." He halted, watching her carefully while her face slowly set for the confrontation at hand. "You, you jumped too much stuff. Went too fast. Then when she called you on it, you-"

She was seething. Him now, too? "I devoted more than enough time to explaining the concepts, especially seeing that this was merely a review of material previously covered in class," she shot back. "If Rise was unable to follow, she either wasn't paying attention or, or she simply lacks the cognitive ability." Okay, _that_ had been petty, too. But it feels strangely good to lash out like that, after the unjustified critique of her tutoring.

He frowned and let out a long breath. "Look, I didn't understand much either."

Her glare shifted to the side, unable to look at him when she spoke up again. "Then the same applies to you," she muttered, with a sharp tug at the brim of her cap. She did not mean to. She had not wanted to insult him as well, but if he sided with Kujikawa on this - and seeing the interest they clearly had on one another, he would - well. If it held true for her, it would hold true for him. Besides, this was sure to bring him back around. He would reject being called, in a sense, lacking intelligence, and resume his-

"Well, I guess there ain't any point in this," he muttered, "if I'm too stupid to ever get it."

Naoto froze. Instead of doing as she predicted, and fly into a rage, fulling his desire to prove her wrong, he quietly packed up his book, notes, remaining box of animal crackers and got up. During all of this, her gaze had remained turned away from him and she fought away shock to try and find words, any words, just... anything at all.

 _dontlethimleave_ , a small, frantic voice screamed inside of her.

_'He can go wherever he pleases. No doubt he will wish to catch up to Rise-san.'_

_heisleavingdontlethimgo_

_'I have nothing else to say to him.'_

_foolishyesyoudoyouwantedtodothis_

_'I did this because it complied with Yu-senpai's instructions.'_

_dontlethimgodont-let-him-go-hurry_

Spurred on by the urgency in Sukuna-Hikona's voice more than by her own understanding, she jumped to her feet. "Kanji-kun!"

She was too late. The sliding doors had just closed behind him; he had not heard her. The regret she felt at his departure seemed exaggerated over what had actually transpired. So what if he left early. She did not need to plan her day fully around her class mates. She could spend her time more productively. She still had a case waiting fror review at home.

She would have preferred for him to stay.

Slowly her legs gave and she sat hard on the bench. Very well. This was not the way to try and make friends, clearly. Her intellect separated them from her, and, as shown now, she could not simply gap that ledge with a self-built bridge and pull them up to her level. The conclusion of this was somewhat worrying. Would she need to lower her own behaviour and understanding to their lesser level? Play dumb? No. That would benefit no one.

Her eyes scanned over the material before her. She had everything outlined, everything was clear and concise. She had avoided distractions in the material, had ensured that everything pointed straight to the next step, leading them by the hand, proverbially. Where had she gone wrong?

Pushing her cap back she leaned on the table. This was when she heard a slow, rhythmic squeaking approach her from behind. "Good afternoon, Teddie-san."

"Aw, how'd you know it was me, Nao-chan?"

She flinched at his familiar address. "Your walking pattern is quite unique," she replied. She still had not found how his shoes seemed to make a squeaky sound no matter what ground he walked on. She briefly wondered if they would squeak on a soft ground, too.

The bear-shadow walked around the table and rolled heel-to-toe-to-heel in front of her. "I saw you guys were studying hard, so I went to get you all some MadBulls - Yosuke always says he cannot do homework without one. But then you were here all alone. So I guess you can have all three." He plopped the highly-caffeinated drinks in front of her, his eyes seeming to sparkle and he seemed to try to cross his stubby arms behind his back.

"That is... kind of you, Teddie-san. What do I owe you?"

"You owe me nothing! You are my friend!"

His friend? He hardly knew her, aside from the TV world they had not once interacted with one another. "But I cannot let you buy me refreshments. It is uncalled for."

"No, it isn't! I get an allowance for the food court and that means I can do what I want with it. It's how allowances work, Yosuke said. And that means I can give you this if I want you to have it." The large eyes on his suit slid half-way shut and he waggled his eyebrows. "We can always call it a date."

Naoto crossed her arms and leaned back. "We could, however, I would not date a mascot, Teddie-san."

While she knew that the oversized zipper was mobile, seeing it move without his short stubby arms reaching up, seemingly on its own, still was a bit unnerving. The boy popped out and smiled hopefully. "How about a bear-y handsome young man working hard, wishing to spend his lunch break with the most bear-uitful of ladies?"

She tucked her cap to hide the small smile on her lips. Well. She had in a way offered this outcome, had she not? "That would be acceptable. However, this does not mean that you hold any romantic designs upon me."

He stopped half-way out of his suit. "I can make some pretty awesome designs with crayons," he offered.

"What I mean, Teddie-san, is that this date will not be due to any romantic interest on my part. There will be no kissing or any suggestive touches."

He spluttered and looked genuinely shocked. "Nao-chan! Really! This is our first date! What would you think of me - I will treat you like a princess!" With that he skipped off to get some food, she assumed.

So she had gone from being a failed tutor to soon being a failed date. This day was not shaping up promising. She had seen first-hand how much Teddie hung to Chie and Yukiko, for, what her senpai called, a terrible mistake. Being on her guard was essential now. She sighed and started packing away her notes as Teddie returned from the counter.

"So, what did you work on?"

"Mathematics. Trigonometry."

He nodded knowingly. "Math is the worst."

She lifted her eyebrows, looking at the boy-shadow in surprise. "Do you attend school?"

"No. But I listen to Yosuke swear a lot when he does Maths homework. He says it's the worst, no matter what he is working on, so I guess it just keeps getting harder."

"In a way," she conceded, "that is actually correct." She stared at the copies of work sheets she had prepared, now without further purpose. With a disappointed grunt she handed him the papers. "Would you throw these away, Teddie-san?"

"Won't you need them?"

"As you can see, they have both left," she replied shortly, placing her paperwork away.

"Yes, but you did not finish." He tilted his head and offered the paper back to her.

She swallowed, clenching her fists on the table for a moment.

"You're upset, Nao-chan. Wait, let me get our _takoyaki_ , then you can tell me, okay?"

He vanished, still holding on to the papers. Naoto looked at her hands in irritation and willed them to open slowly. _'Deep breaths'_ she told herself. It was no use getting upset over any of this. No matter how ungrateful or dramatic they had been, she wasn't to be faulted.

Teddie returned with two trays of _takoyaki_... and a rose between his lips. Where on earth had he found this, seeing the brief amount of time he was gone, was fully beyond her. He placed the small trays down carefully, handing her a napkin and the rose. "A bear-y beautiful flower for the bear-utiful lady I am dating!"

She froze in mid-acceptance of the flower. "Teddie, we are _on_ a _date_ , and I conceded to that, but we are _not_ _dating_. There is a distinct difference I would hold you to observance. As I said, there is no romantic interest here."

He took her rejection with a smile and an easy shrug. "Ah, it was worth a try. I will charm you over yet, and Kanji will not stand a chance!"

"I _beg_ your pardon?"

"I mean; all the ladies love Teddie…!"

She sighed. There was that word again. "Teddie, I am certain you vastly misunderstand the situations that arise in humans regarding interest between the sexes. Or the same sex, as it were in some cases." Clearly he had missed the interplay of the two who had just left, too.

Teddie smiled and shrugged, sitting down across from her. “So, tell me all your worries, I paw-mise to listen, like the best date you ever had!”

 _Like the only date I ever had and am likely to will have for years to come._ She mumbled thanks for her food and stalled for time by popping one of the pan-fried octopus morsels into her mouth.

What was there to tell, really? She had tried to be nice, as senpai had demanded it, by offering her advanced academic prowess to two of her team mates. Both of whom could have greatly benefitted from her training, truth be told. And both of whom had rejected her and her material. This was not a matter of her being incapable. It could not be. This was a matter of her peers being unable to bridge the gap between her own understanding and theirs. _No, that thinking would mean that I do not credit them with intelligence…_

“Tatsumi-kun is not unintelligent.” She blinked, unsure where that opening statement had come from, or why she felt the need to elaborate the point to Teddie.

“Kanji? Nope! He is smart. But, like, he is picky about what he wants to be smart about.”

“Selective knowledge and engagement, yes, I have noticed this. And he is swift to point to his assumed inferior intellect as an excuse, too. But he is not simpleminded.”

“I’m glad you noticed that about him. He’s always worried about you being smarter and stuff.”

This gave her pause. “Is he? Why would it worry him?”

“Well~,” Teddie said, leaning on the table as if sharing a big secret, “you are super-super smart. And if he wants to be taken serious by you, well, he cannot if he’s not as smart as you.”

“Intelligence does not build or limit factors between peers.”

_areyoulisteningtoyourself?_

_‘Do not place words in my mouth, Sukuna-kun. And do not involve yourself in this discussion, if you please.’_

“But he is worried. He really wants you to like him.”

A huff. “If that were the truth, then his behaviour today was a poor choice on his part.” Naoto picked up another _takoyaki_ and glared at it.

“Ouch, Nao-chan.”

She stopped and regarded Teddie. “Did you injure yourself?”

“I might have. That comment cut, I am glad Kanji-chan didn’t hear it.” The startlingly blue eyes under the wind-swept blonde hair tried to pierce into her own.

She was about to shoot back a reply, but then caught her temper. “Please, explain why that would be so.”

“I’m not sure what happened, but none of the others – or me – hate you. We want to be your friends, but we don’t know how.”

She frowned, first at him, then at the morsel in her hands. “Why would you bother to strive for my friendship. I am not like you.”

“Sure, you can be a bit weird.” He seemed to not notice the sharp look she gave him and happily chatted on. “You’re a bit mean at times, and you can be very cold and sometimes, but just sometimes, you even say hurtful things. But, you know, that’s okay. Because it is only in the way that Yosuke’s dad can be mean and cold when he sends me to my room, or how Misses Hanamura will say stuff that’s hurtful, but that’s only because she’s a mom and mom’s sometimes need to be honest over some things.” He gave her a bright smile. “You’re just so much more grown-up! And so smart! And I think you actually really care about stuff, you know? So, yes, we want to be your friend.”

Naoto had dropped her food and tucked her cap lower with each word of praise. She wasn’t fully sure if this was Teddie trying to flirt, or simply Teddie-without-filters, as Chie sometimes called him when he got into one of his strangely happy moods.

“And you offer to help us out, too, like this!” He pointed at her exercise sheets he had still not added to the recycling bin.

“It was based on good intentions.”

“Fo fap happm’?”

Naoto made a face at his ill-timed attempt of speech. “What happened?” He nodded, mouth still full. “Well. I was asked if I could tutor them. As a group exercise. I agreed. Prepared the material. And then spent nearly an hour trying to get them to pay attention.”

Thankfully, by now Teddie had swallowed his food. “So they asked you for help but then didn’t want it?”

“Yes, precisely.”

“I don’t think so.”

She paused and watched him. “But that is what took place, Teddie-san.”

“Can’t be. Kanji wouldn’t do that. What did he say?”

“Well, first Rise-san said that she could not continue. She refuted being lazy, so I…” Naoto tucked her cap again. “I may … I may have insinuated that she lacked the mental faculty to process the material.”

“I don't think I understand. You were mean?”

She crossed her arms and nodded.

“Not good, Nao-chan.” He childishly wagged a finger at her. “But… wait. Why couldn’t she go on?”

“Rise-san, and later Tatsumi-kun, both claimed that they did not understand.”

“Weird. Didn’t they tell you it was hard for them?”

“Well, yes, they did complain, but I was only going over what we previously established in class. I had not introduced any new material today.”

“And did they understand it when in school?”

“I… did not ask.” She looked confused. "But the basics were very simple. Surely one explanation was more than sufficient, I merely, needed to re-establish the facts."

They both fell silent, each to their own thoughts. Naoto pondered the meaning of her own approach still, when Teddie jumped up and circled around the table, sitting beside her. "Look, Nao-chan. Two tables over." He pointed.

Naoto slapped his hand down, mortified at him simply pointing at someone. "Teddie! Control yourself."

"Hm? Oh. Sorry." He turned his head to the table he had pointed out, which had a mother and young child siting together, and mouthed 'Sorry!' at them, too. "But, look. The little one is learning how to use chopsticks still."

Teddie was correct, and she had no idea how he had been able to see this while it took place _behind_ him. But he had observed correctly. The mother had handed the child small chopsticks which had a silicone connector at the top. She had seen the likes, some parents used them to teach their children the motions needed to operate chopsticks. The child kept trying to pick up some of its fried noodles, but their grip slipped. Each time it did, the mother paused eating and picked up the child’s utensils, placing them back in its little hand and practiced the motion a few times. Finally, the frustration grew to be too much and the child pulled one of the sticks out of the silicone appliance, speared a _takoyaki_ and nibbled it from the tip of the chopstick messily.

Naoto realised she had been staring when the mother turned her gaze at the two and ducked her head in a greeting. Embarrassed over violating her privacy, Naoto tucked her cap hard and stared at the desk.

Teddie however seemed happy. He leaned into her a few times, till she looked up at him. "Did you see that?"

"It is rude to stare."

"We didn't _stare_ , Nao-chan, we watched a cute little girl climb the stairway of learning!"

"Was there a _point_ to this?"

Teddie's smile slipped and he looked at her with eyes large enough to rival the ones on his suit. "Of course, Nao-chan. That girl was learning. You were trying to find out why Kanji and Rise didn't learn."

"The concept of learning is much more complex than what you are seeming to comprehend here, Teddie-san. I was explaining the basics of a mathematical concept. The child is learning how to use chopsticks."

"Sure, but her mom is teaching, no? You were teaching. And she is teaching."

"No, she is merely demonstrating to the child how it works. That's a different concept. The child can touch the chopsticks. It is a mechanical process, not an intellectual one."

"Ah, but you are still missing the point, Nao-chan" he whined.

She frowned at him, then turned her head to re-observe.

The mother had pried the _takoyaki_ off of the child's chopsticks and hand re-assembled the utensils. The child listlessly poked at its fried noodles. After a about a minute, the mother put her own food down once more and showed the child how to hold the chopsticks.

"Right there!"

His excited interjection made Naoto jump. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you see? She stopped and showed the child once more."

"Well, repetition is a part of learning. We do the same with our homework and exercises during class."

"Yes, but the child had the chopsticks all along. It still needed help, again, to be reminded how it works."

Naoto blinked slowly. "Are you implying that repetition was the missing step for me?"

"Maybe? I don't know much about what you did, but if Kanji and Rise said you were going too fast, then maybe they needed you to stop and show them again."

Naoto crossed her arms. "Preposterous. We had covered the matter repeatedly at that point."

Teddie nodded back to the table, where the child tried to take its utensils apart to try a different approach. The mother re-assembled the aid and handed the chopsticks back, talking softly to her and showing the finger movement needed once more. "She's not stopping. Sure, she's shown it before, but her daughter still needs help."

Naoto frowned. "So you are saying that Rise-san and Tatsumi-kun would have needed further explanations." He nodded. "Even though the material was previously covered." He smiled, nodded again. "And how often should this continue?"

"Until they learn. That's why you're helping, right? So they understand?"

If she looked at the afternoon under the light of this explanation, then it sadly made sense.

She had assumed they were reviewing material that everyone was equally familiar with. The help she offered was to give a structured, orderly space to review. That anyone would struggle this much with a simple matter, clearly described with readily-available formulae, she had simply not been able to consider it as such. The struggle of her peers suddenly seemed to make more sense to her.

Unlike briefings, where all involved officers had been already doing their own groundwork, she had to... she had to take true learning into consideration.

"Teddie-san..."

"Yes?"

"Thank you. This was... surprisingly enlightening."

"Does that mean I get a kiss goodbye before I have to return to work?" he asked hopefully.

She turned to look at him, eyes narrowed slightly. "No. But because I am thankful to you, I will pretend you never said that."

He happily shrugged. "That's better than the kicks and punches I get threatened with by everyone else!" He stood, gathered up the garbage and threw it away.

While she packed up, he slipped back into his bear suit. The moment the zipper closed, his eyes came to life and his voice changed ever so slightly. "Maybe I'll ask you out for another date, Nao-chan. You're so pretty and smart, I am sure the last thirty minutes I made a lot of guys bear-y jealous. Have a nice evening!" He waved happily and wandered off, entertaining customers by bouncing around their children, pointing out specials and being his playful self.

* * *

 

Nursing a cup of tea in her living room, Naoto reviewed her plan once more. It was simple, really. She already had Rise-san's number (the idol had taken her phone and entered it herself). The logical path would be to call her first, reschedule and then ask for Tatsumi's number from her.

That, however, had a few possible weak points. What if she was too angry still? What if she would refuse to present Tatsumi's number? Truthfully, between the both of them, hot-blooded Kanji Tatsumi appeared to be the level-headed person. And getting his number would need to happen sooner or later anyhow. She opened her phone once more and scrolled through her contact list. She had Rise, Chie-senpai, Yukiko-senpai and Yu-senpai.

Contacting Yu-senpai could possibly lead to having to admit she had failed today, and he could be upset.

And Chie-senpai had… a certain imposing effect on her. She would rather not cross the girl.

But Yukiko-senpai... She had said she could contact her for any needs. Maybe this could be stretched to include her need today. She had seemed friendly with the Tatsumi's, so getting Kanji's- _Tatsumi_ - _kun's_ number from her would be the best solution.

She spent way too long over the simple request before she finally send out the text message reading: **U HAVE KANJI TATSUMIS #? NEED 4 SCHOOL WRK**

She set her phone down on the table, picked up her mug and started to consider other options. She should not let this matter rest overnight. If she could not arrange to meet again via text message, she might be able to look up the shops number in the directory. It may still be open and she might possibly still reach him in that- Her phone vibrated and Naoto placed down her tea once more.

**Sure, let me send you his contact. Good of you to help him, Naoto-kun.**

This went smoother than she could have hoped. But then again, her cover was pretty solid. Tatsumi needed help with school. She was at the head of the class. They were comrades. It all lined up. When her phone buzzed again, bringing a virtual contact card, she accepted, entered the details into her phone, assigned a quick-dial number - just for ease of texting - and settled back into the couch.

_Now what...?_

_nowyouapologise_

_'I cannot just go and apologise. It would mean I admit wrongdoing. ...are you always listening in on me?'_

_iamyou_

_'So... yes?'_

_yes_

_'Wonderful.'_

Her persona seemed to fully ignore the sarcasm. _sojusttellhimyouaresorryandasktomakeup_

_'I cannot.'_

_youdidalready-youaskedforhisnumber_

_'Well, yes, to invite him and Rise to study once more.'_

_butheywillbeangry_

She ignored the exasperating chirping and tapped out her next message. Swiftly, before she could lose her nerve. **STUDY TOMORROW Y/N**

She wasn't sure what to expect. And she realised too late that if she had not had his number, he would not know hers. Would not know who texted him. She started to tap out a more detailed message when her phone buzzed in her hands.

**what bout rise?**

Ah. Of course. He would ask about her, first. She knew she needed to address both of them.

**WILL TALK W/HER**

She stared at her phone. Sukuna-Hikuna would not let up, still chirping at her, insisted she needed to approach him in more than her short, clinical way. Trying to not choke on the lump forming in her chest, she tapped out and quickly hit send. 

**SORRY 4 EARLIER**

The chirping did not quite stop after this, but it lost the urgent edge.

Naoto stared at her phone. Was this enough? She hoped it would be. She also hoped she would not need to wait too long for his answer.

She tapped out the first and last message she had sent him in reverse order and sent them to Rise-san. The reply was almost immediate, Rise sounded relieved and very apologetic about having 'caused drama'. She said she could not come out to study tomorrow, but she would love to try again, when she was in a better mood. Overall it took about two dozen messages and forty minutes to convey that, much to Naoto’s displeasure.

Even though Naoto stayed up past her general bed time, Tatsumi-kun did not send her an answer.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowzers, this is chapter 30! I am kind of impressed that I am still going, still having fun and still this story soaks up most of my mental energy. 
> 
> This is actually a very good place to give another shout-out to Zero-Damage (FFN) / jackdawq (AO3) for the core story. Dude, please, please come back and finish "Shortest Distance from A to B". Please? I already feel weird writing DF without you knowing about it happening and I REALLY don't wanna finish it without AtoB being finished. *sniff* (Oh, and while I'm here making wishes, "Burns without Cue" needs to be finished, too. My soul burns for it.)
> 
> For anyone keeping up with ZD's story, Chapter 30 marks the end of chapter 18 of AtoB, 31 will be 19. If... well...  
> Right now I am wondering if I should have a Kanji interlude again where AtoB had a Naoto one. Thoughts, dear readers?


	31. Chapter Thirty-One - Communications Five

Receipt Date: Mon, 12th Oct 2011 09:18:38

Delivered-To: ShiroganeYF

Subject: Re: Inaba

From: Shriogane, Naoto shiroganenaoy@gmail.com

To: Shirogane, Y.F. shiroganeyf@gmail.com

 

* * *

 

Good evening Grampa,

I hope your day went well and that your case is progressing.

I believe I have solved your riddle. It may appear such that it took me too long to find out what you were doing, but I have been quite busy here in Inaba. I will elaborate in a moment.

As for why you are using the services of a translator while you are working in the States – you suspect someone who is assigned to work with you to be involved or indeed be the culprit themselves. I cannot believe I actually had to voice surprise at this matter, it was really fairly obvious once I reviewed the information available on the matter.

This only goes to show how distracted I have felt in general during the last few weeks.

Are you safe, working in such an environment? If an officer of the law is implicated, often their corruption goes deep enough to take extreme measures. You will call for Yakushiji before things get too dangerous, I assume?

Speaking of him, I did call, although I have to admit I missed his birthday by a day. He seemed pleased even though I was tardy and we spoke for quite some time. He feels restless not being at your side, even if he would be hesitant to voice this to you in person. I hope you will be back home soon, and so does he.

Just as I write this, I realise another part of your plan. You cannot have Yakushiji with you. The translator needs to be someone who is known to be a stranger to you, am I correct? You really do think of everything, Grampa.

Returning to my conversation with Yakushiji, he did also indicate that there has been some suspicious activity back home. I’ve offered to review the security measures in place at the estate, but he claimed it was him simply being ‘finicky’.  Maybe you can address the matter. I would hate to think our home is not safe to those who reside there while you and I are out working.

We are headed into exams here at school right now. I have been tasked by my senpai to assist my new friends and classmates in bettering their academic standing. This has proven a challenge, as I appeared to have not prepared fully for the task. I approached the matter under the assumption that I would simply help along a minor block not in approaching the subject matter as fully re-training my peers. I am grateful that a new acquaintance I made in my time here helped me realise my mistake in this matter and I have fully reworked my tutoring schedule. The two classmates I have attempted to educate have been contacted and it appears I need to deliver one more apology in person for failing one of the two, but I have set myself the goal that neither of the ones I am taking under my wing will fail this next round of exams. If nothing else, I agreed to this and I would look foolish before my senpai.

Aside from this, my case still seems frozen. I am still waiting for my current network to provide me with a new lead, but I have not surrendered to the matter at hand. I will find the guilty party and they will be brought to justice, Grampa.

It is getting late; I should rest before school tomorrow.

Thank you for your love and care. I miss you.


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two - Interlude Two - Kanji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanji still hasn't been able to talk to Naoto since he left her sitting at Junes a few days ago. Not because he didn't want to talk, but what can a guy say? 'Yeah, I'm dumb, sorry I wasted your time'?  
> Maybe Rise and Ma can think of something that'll help - or maybe he can find his own answers. If only he can find a way to approach her.

**October 14th, 2011**

“I am not _fucking_ moping, Rise, okay?” Kanji roared. The roof top fell silent and as he started to silently cuss himself out for swearing at a friend, he noticed a few students scramble to the door leading to the stairway.

She was cool as ice, nothing even hinted at her being shaken over his outburst. Then again, maybe he had done it so often now that she was flat-out used to it and it wouldn’t scare her any longer. His friend did that _thing_ where she put her index finger over her lips, thumb on one side of her chin, the other fingers on the other side. She spoke under the finger reaching across her lips. “Hm. You might be right, Moronji, you’re not moping. This is a full-blown sulk.” 

And he had been seconds away from an apology to her, too. “Damnit. Get bent,” he growled and stood.

He didn’t get very far, as no one gets to drag Rise Kujikawa around when she’s latched on to their arm. Like she was on his own right now. Kanji stopped and sighed at the sky. She wanted them to talk, they would talk. “Kanji.”

He growled. There was no way around it, if the idol wanted to have your attention, damnit, she would have it. Not that he was really looking forward to it. Whatever she had to say, chances were it was all about him being an idiot or something. Nothing new. Ever since he left Junes that day he told himself that a million times, and a couple million more while he couldn’t find a response to Naoto’s last text.

The entire day hadn't been very good yet. After staying up way too late, trying again to find an explanation for Naoto's texts and how it seemed she actually tried to be nice, he had overslept. Luckily for him - and sadly, too - Rise had called him and insisted he walk with her and don't he dare make her late. He had tried to find Naoto while trying to shake Rise off his arm at the same time. Where the hell was senpai? He could at least get a break from the love-sick idol when he was around.

"Look. I had hoped we could find Naoto and talk to her together, Kanji. Because I know you won't get a single word out the way you have been all week." He tried to not even look at her. He hated how she could put her finger right on the problem at hand. He wouldn't know what to do, she was right.

He wanted to be angry at Naoto. He also knew she had apologised and being angry now would just be him being petty.  Besides. As much of a jerk as she was, one look into those eyes and he wouldn't even remember how much what she had said had really hurt him.

When he wouldn’t turn around to look at her, Rise sighed and started to pull him back by his shirt towards ‘their’ corner of the roof.

“Damn—Rise, leggo of my shirt! Yer gonna make it all worn and crap…”

Instead of letting go, she twirled him around once they were in a far corner and stared him down – an impressive feat for someone so short. “Look, I’m sorry. I was on my way home when I realized this was the first time she had actually made an effort with you-“

“-she didn’t do it for me, you know that-“

“-WITH YOU,” she rode over his protests, “and I went _prima donna_ and screwed things up. “ Rise let go of his shirt and her hands dropped to her sides. The look in her eyes was a kind one. She _did_ feel sorry. “I had half a mind to run back and make sure she wouldn’t take my bad mood out on you. But I didn’t. Silly argument, really.” Rise watched him, he knew, but he had not much to add. Wasn’t like he was angry with her or nothin’. “She texted me later, said she wanted to apologize and asked if we should study again today.  I’ve managed to make plans with senpai, so I really can’t, but that just means you get another shot at it with her, right?” Her eyes searched his and tried to find his answer though the silent looks exchanged. "Right?" He broke first, glancing away. “What…? She did contact you, too, didn't she?” He managed a nod. “Great, so just let her know you’d love to hang out and study!”

Kanji shuffled his feet and looked away. "Why? Exams are nearly done anyhow."

"There's still a few days! I'm sure she'd love to-"

He barked a laugh.

"-fine, maybe not that much, but I am sure if you ask her nicely, she'll help you!"

Kanji stared at the ground. At the chainlink fence. At the sky. "Don't think it's a good idea, me an' her alone. I'll just screw it up."

She looked at him for a few long, long moments, thenput her fists on her hips. “Oh come, you don’t need a chaperone with you, Kanji!”

“Very funny, Rise. ‘s not the point. She ain’t wanna hang with me, neither.”

“What? Why?”

“She… she pretty much said I was too dumb to learn.”

That stopped his idol-friend in her tracks. Her hands fell to her sides. “She what? Really? What brought that on?” She looked actually puzzled. “Naoto can be a bit mean, but I don’t think she really wanted to be rude to you, Kanji. Did you ask her about it?”

He scratched the back of his head and sank onto one of the pipes. “Ah. I told her she didn’t make much sense ta me, either, when ya had left. She was being so… so…”

“…so Shirogane?”

He huffed a humorless laugh. “Yeah. All about how you didn’t ‘apply’ yourself and crap, y’know? And then I …” He sighed and dropped his hands between his knees. “I blew it, Rise.”

There was nothing for a short while. Kanji simply watched his hands twitch at one another. If he could go back, he’s slap himself silly and made sure he kept his dumb mouth shut. Never had anything smart to add to any chat anyhow. And not like Rise needed him to defend her.

He felt her hop on the pipe beside him after two false starts. She slipped her hands around his arm and snuggled up to him. “Oh Kanji. No. Nothing is ‘blown’. Remember what her shadow said? Always alone. She’s never had friends. Trust me, she’s just awkward and doesn't know how to be our friend.” He knew she wanted him to look at her, but he couldn’t. Not even when she poked his ribs. “Hey. She’ll learn. And she’ll be the best boyfriend you’ll ever have.”

“Shut it.” It sounded as half-hearted as he had felt about everything that day.

She giggled way too happily at her joke. "And you'll be an _outstanding_ boyfriend. I can already picture it!" Her arms vanished and she hopped in front to him, trying to catch his eyes as she skipped around in front of him, following his dodging gaze. "You'll go all goofy over you two being an item..."

"Rise..."

"...and bring her sweet gifts."

He groaned. It was worse that he kinda had dreamed about what he could make her for her birthday, if he ever found out when that was. "Shut it."

"Make bentos you two can share-"

He swallowed hard. "Stop, damnit."

"-and I'll have to start walking home all by myself because you'll spend the afternoons by the Samagawa, holding hands, watching the water flow by-"

" _I said shut it_!" Kanji snarled.

When she stopped her grin was gone and she looked at him seriously. "Really, you two would be great. I know it. You know it. Half the team think so. All you need to do now he have that one, first study session with her."

"Can't."

"Why?"

"Because!"

She crossed her arms. "Not good enough, Kanji. Really, just text her or something." The bell rang, calling them back to class. "I need to run, but, please? Just try?"

* * *

 

Banging the wooden spoon in the pan a few times, Kanji empties the fried chopped onions and garlic into the mixing bowl. At least food didn't try to push him into Naoto. Or give him those weird looks. Or demand texts to be send to his crush. No, food simply was made, by recipe, every time, and it came out the way he expected it to.

He grabbed the spoon and tasted some of the mixture. Was okay, needed some salt, but that'll come with the sauce.

As he emptied the package of minced prok and beef mixture into the bowl and started to work in the meat with the spinced and fried mixture, his thoughts kept returning to Naoto's texts.

SORRY 4 EARLIER

Girl said she was sorry. That really should be good enough. He didn't ned mor'n that. Seriously, what did he want, a love confession at the same time? Scooping the meat-mix up and slapping it back in the bowl repeatedly, he growled at himself. _Right. And I'd look killer in a dress._

Using his fingers as a whisk again - because the trick to a good Hamburg Steak is making sure the meat is mixed right - he reached for the bowl with the egg, adding half of it.

Rise was wrong. There was nothin' simple about just texting Naoto. Anything Naoto isn't 'you just need to', anyhow, because she made everything so damned complicated. Say he were to text her. Then what? He'd possibly fuck up even a simple "S'up?" and piss her off again. Pissing the girl of his dreams off, now there was a talent he never thought he'd show. But, let's suppoe it went well, then what? He'd sit down and try again and he would still piss her off because he just ain't smart enough.

He started to scoop the mixture up and pounding it back into the mixing bowl.

Cooking. Cooking was easy. Get your ingredients, follow the right steps, get a good meal. Oh, and avoid the girls being within 200 meters of the kitchen.

"I am sure that poor animal hasn't done anything to deserve such harsh treatment, Kanji-chan."

He jumped, looking over his shoulder at the amused expression in his mother's face. "Damnit, ya old bat, whaddya sneakin' up on me for?"

"Oh, I only just locked up and wanted to see what you were up to."

He turned back and slapped the mixture around some more. "Hamburg steak," he mumbled. "Yer busy in the evenings the last few days, thought I can cook. Maybe make some for my bento tomorrow."

He felt her walk behind him and give him a short hug around the shoulders. "Thank you, dear."

"D-damnit, Ma! I'm cooking, you'll... ya need ta wash ya hands!"

Part of him hated how he always snapped at her. It's his Ma. And she was, ya know, his _Ma_ and stuff. He only wanted her safe and happy. But she pissed him off when she got all weird and sweet on him. It make him feel like a little kid, damnit.

"Shall I start the rice, Kanji-chan?"

"Y-yeah. Thanks, Ma."

She turned to the sink and he heard her wash up, then start to measur eout and wash the rice. They both worked in silence, her preparing the cooker, him making the small oblongs he liked his bento-hamburgs to be. Sure, they would have some for dinner, but he had more than enough for lunch tomorrow for both of them.

"So, Kanji-chan?"

"Mhm?"

"What's gotten you so upset?"

He paused, looking over his shoulder. _The hell did she always know these things?_ He resumed his work. "Dunno wha-"

" _Kanji_."

Oh man. He _really_ hated when she did _that_. "Damnit, Ma!"

"Tell me. Talking helps."

He silently turned the rest of the mixture into balls and put the bowl into the sink. Washing his hands, he sighed. "I had a fight."

"Oh, dear..."

"Nono! Not, like, a _fight_ , but, you know, with a friend."

"Oh, an argument?"

"Yeah, sorta." He kept rubbing his hands under the water, the soap long since rinsed off again. "Just... I don' think I did anythin' wrong, y'know? Just... I think we both were stupid."

She set up the rice cooker and pulled it away from the wall a bit. "So what happened?"

"'s Naoto, see, we were-"

"Naoto?"

He froze. Damn. _Damn_. Can't damit to his Ma he was broodin' over a girl! "N-Naoto-kun. You know? Blue hair? Been here a few times, askin' for me?"

"Hm. Oh! The friend you mentioned a few weeks ago, who had something bad happen to him?"

 _Sure._ "Y-Yeah. See, I ... you said I should tryn'a bee a friend, right? So, yeah, I was tryin. Wanted to hang out and stuff. And then Naoto said I probably need help with the exams and sould show me some stuff. Me an' Rise both, see?"

"Oh, a study group? How considerate of the boy. So you study together after school now?"

Kanji turned off the water finally and dried his hands. _How the hell do I explain what happened? Ma knows I'm dumb as a stump. Prolly will side with Naoto on that one..._

"Kanji?"

"Mhm?"

"You're studying together now?"

"Oh. Well..." He picked up the other half of the egg and the small bowl of panko flakes. Putting a pan on the stove and lighting the gas, he knew he was stalling for time. "Well, we only studied once, you see? And then we had that fight already." He started to whisk the egg with two chopsticks and frowned at the mixture. "I... i really wanna be friend with Naoto, Ma."

"You sound like it."

" _What?!_ "

"No need to shout. But you met some nice other kids since High School started, it seems. You talk about them. And you mentioned Naoto before, I'm sure. You want to be friends, and I think it's wonderful, dear." There was a beat of silence as Kanji started to dip each small oblong into the egg batter, then pressed it into the pank and set it aside on a plate. "So you fought," his mother finally prompted.

"Yeah. Was stupid. Naoto kinda sucked at explainin' an' Rise got mad. And... an' then I told Naoto Rise was right-" his Ma chuckled and he glared at her for a moment, "she was!"

"You're always so nice to the granddaughter of Marukju, it makes me happy. I've known her for so long now..."

"A-Anyhow," he fell in, blushing fiercely. _Damn old bat, gettin' the wrong idea!_ "So I told Naoto we needed more explanations an' then... then..." He frowned, checked the oil was good and hot and put the first five steaks into the pan. "Said I was stupid."

She hummed. "Just like that?"

"Lacking mental carapace or something, but, yeah. Called me dumb. Said teachin' me wouldn't make much sense. That was last week."

"And now you both are sorry you had an arguemtn, right?"

He looked up from the pan and turned to the table, where she had taken a seat. "Y-Yeah! How'd ya-?"

"Oh Kanji-chan. I know how this works. You fight, then both realise it was dumb, then you try to be friends and you don't know how, really." She smiled fondly. "But all you silly boys need to do is talk again. You'll see, nothing really changed. You are still friends, something so small does not ruin friendship."

"Even... even if ya only just started hangin' out?"

"Even then. I wish you had had more friends in your life. You could have learned this easy lesson many years ago with other kids when before going into Middle School already. Sometimes you fight. But then you just need to realise that you still have stuff to talk about and things you want to do together."

Kanji turned and flipped the steaks over. "Does... like, does that work every time when you have a fight with someone?"

"Oh, you know," she said, "most of the time. But there are very easy recipes in life when it comes to friends. Just be yourself with Naoto, Kanji. I'm sure he is sorry, too, and just wants to find out how to spend time with you again. I know this was the first time you studied together, but you have spend time together before, yes? Just remember that one fight does not end your friendship."

"Y-Yeah. Thanks, Ma."

"Anytime, dear. Should I start the tea?"

 

* * *

 

 

**October 18th, 2011**

 

Watching the textile working club assemble was a kind of private torture he still put himself through every other day. When he had first joined Yaso High, he was thrilled to see they had a pretty solid crafts room, and their textile shop was decent. Then he realised that there wasn't a single guy taking textiles club and he gave up on it.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He gave up on taking part. What he was unable to was standing outside, looking in. Right now, as he hunched his shoulders lower and lower, all he wanted was rush inside and save one of the sewing machines from needing serious repairs because one of the girls had started to hopelessly tangle her piece in it. Damnit, that needle was possibly already done for, and now the motor was now complaining loud enough to hear from the outside. He balled his fists and shoved them deeper in his pockets to keep them from banging right through the windows.

"Good afternoon, Kanji-kun."

Kanji swung round, wide-eyed, fists slipping out of his pockets. Naoto! He had totally forgotten the entire miss that was in his head about her from the last few days, getting worse last night till this today. He pulled his fists open, running one hand through his hair, wondering for just a moment what he must have looked like. "N-Naoto! Uh... S'up?"

She looked weird. Generally she was so sure of herself, but right now, her head seemed to try and hide between her collar and her hat and she avoided looking at him. _Come to think of it, did she just say 'Kanji-kun'?!_ "Nothing is up. I simply--" She hesitated, fidgeted and finally clasped her hands behind her back. "I was wondering, Tatsumi. Is everything all right?"

Kanji frowned. Tatsumi again. Not even Tatsumi-kun.

But, wait. This was Naoto. She doesn't slip up like that, does she? What did this mean? Did she want to call him Kanji just then? Or was her mind on something else perhaps? Damnit, maybe it meant nothing at all...

His thoughts were interrupted when she straightened and gazed past him through the window of the textile classroom. "Are you interested in sewing cl--"

 _Oh hell._ "No!" Kanji snapped quickly. "That's--I-I'm not hurtin' nobody, okay?" This was awkward enough without her having to actually to touch on _that_ topic. And if he could help it at all, not something he’d ever- _ever_ discuss with her. Needed to keep a certain profile, if she were to ever notice him in anything other than just passing. She was all angels and professionalism, not someone who’d understand… well. _This_.

Then again, maybe his shadow was right. Maybe he wouldn’t ever have a chance with her because of crap like this.

He turned back to the window, anything but stare at her, no matter how much he really, really wanted to. An idle hand was rubbing the back of his neck. "L-look, there somethin' up or, or what?" _Crap, I already said that._

She always did this. And the worst was, she did this without doing a thing. She just stood there, her hand on the forward brim of her cap, shielding her face from him. She didn’t even need to look at him to get him all flustered and jumpy. Either he went silent or could barely get a word or two out, or he started to let his damn mouth run away from him and say stupid things.

But she just stood there, beside him, silent. What on earth did she _want_ from him that had made her come here anyhow? Not like she even liked clubs, she said once that she rather use that time for her cases.

He saw her shift at the edge of his vision, not like he was trying to watch her from the corner of his eye or somethin’. "Your mathematics and world history exams are tomorrow. Do you intend to study more?"

Kanji shrugged uneasy. _Yeah, more good news._ He’ll fail math for sure. "Uh… I-I guess so.” He muttered, “Like it'll help,” and wished just once he didn’t have to admit to her how dumb he was.

She had been kinda right when she called him stupid the other day, really. Hated to admit it, but there it was. He could be glad if he even passed the first year of high school, seeing his graded dropped faster than a bird tied to a rock.

"I. I am free this afternoon."

His mouth went dry and he couldn’t help turning to stare at her. Where’d that come from? Was she- na, she wouldn’t. Would she? Was she trying to ask him to spend time with her? Why would she ask him to? Big dumb Kanji Tatsumi? She could ask Rise, or Senpai or-

"The exams," Naoto continued, as if to prompt him to talk. "I could help you to study."

"Uh. Right. Study."  _Yer such a dumbass, Tatsumi. Of course she didn't want to ask you on a date. You really are an idiot._  He stared at the wall above her head, fighting hard to now show his disappointment.  _Though that would be typical. Her taking the first step because yer a two-mater tall chicken._

He heard her take two deep breaths. "I-I understand my last attempt at tutoring was--but I'm--" She bit her words off, her mouth clicking shut so hard he actually turned to look at her. She was blushing, possibly angry at him being so cold. But, well, what could he seriously do? He still didn't know what to say and he needed to still beat himself up for about three more hours for thinking she would actually go on a date with him. He watched her jaw set, taking another deep breath. "I'm sorry. I spoke without thinking. I've never considered you stupid."

Kanji stared for a beat.  _That crap again?_ "B-but you already--ya said sorry for that already," he said, shrugging aggressively. "S'alright, y'know?" He couldn’t stand it. Could not stand seeing her so... so... so at a loss. So without her cool. She looked small. Well, she  _was_  small, but generally she looked larger than life. An' right now, all she looked like was just... damn uncomfortable.

He watched her eyes widen, she seemed to tense up, but then just turned her head away slightly, nodding. What did  _that_  mean?

Silence seeped in again. He half-turned away from her, looking through the window. The sewing machine must have given up its ghost, as the teach’ and two other girls now dug around in the open side-console. Not much they could do, if that motor had burned. Would need ta replace it, though damned if he knew how to do that. Mechanical stuff wasn't his thing.

"Yes. It is," Naoto managed beside him, her voice with a hint of a tremble.  _What...? Oh. Yeah. S'right._ Maybe she would actually believe it now, if she hadn't the previous days. "So. Studying."

"Uh...yeah. I-I don't think it'll help." As much as he wanted it to be different, it would possibly end up just being a huge waste of time for both of them.

After a few moments of quiet, she said softly, "Of course. I understand. I apologize for bothering you, Tatsumi."

"No, no!" He spun around, trying to reach for her shoulder, seeing her tense up before he even managed to touch her and yanked his hand back at once, remembering that evening before she was captured. She didn’t like being touched, or at least didn’t like for him to grab at her.  _Need ta remember that._ "Y-you--I, I mean--s'worth a try, right?"

Her position shifted, and he breathed a silent sigh of relief when she relaxed again. "Yes, it would be. We can start now. According to today's schedule, classroom 1-1 isn't in use."

"Yeah. S-sounds good." He even found a smile for her at that.

"I'll be more thorough in my explanations this time," she promised quietly, not looking at him.

"Great. Awesome." How was it he was so damned lucky, really? She had come to him, made sure they were cool and even still wanted ta help.  _I wonder how far my luck can stretch in one day…_  He rubbed his neck and turned his head, barely looking at her from the corner of the eye. Maybe he could push that luck just a little bit further. "An’, and it- Kanji, yeah? N-not Tatsumi."

Her eyes lingered on him a moment and she turned, nodded, and said nothing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> As you noticed, in recent weeks I've been all over the place with my stories. Not 100% by choice, my brain's been firing creatively from all directions at once and I've been trying to write everything at once. Which, eer, is wrecking me a bit. As such, DF will be on a short few weeks of hiatus while I finish up code names QC, SC, the next two Experiments that are half-finished and spend more time on ETF - really sorry you all are waiting so long.
> 
> For more updates on the scribbles, if you wanna see where I am at, check out my deviantArt blog.
> 
> Thanks!


	33. Chapter Thirty-Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious letter arrives; our Detective notices her leader is a flirt; and what on earth is a Combo-Attack?

**October** **21st, 2011**

 

 

"Naoto?"

The junior Shirogane turned to see her second-year team leader standing before her, seeming somewhat uneasy. "Yes, Yu-senpai? Can I assist you?"

Their lunch period had just started, and Naoto had left her class room, after it became apparent that several students would spend their break there. Her intended objective had been to withdraw to the quiet of the library – until her senpai had intercepted her.

He looked around the rather busy hallway, seemingly uneasy. "If you have a moment, could you come with me somewhere more quiet?"

 _More quiet?!_ The abrupt stutter in her pulse gave her a brief feeling of dizziness. It even felt as if Sukuna-Hikona vanished for a brief moment; she was left feeling off-balance in every sense of the word. "S-Senpai?"

"There's something I need to show you. You're likely to have more understanding of such matters than I do, given your profession and experience."

"Ah. Of course." She tucked at her cap, frowning at her first and immediate reaction of stress when he wished to talk to her alone. She had noticed similar reactions before when it came to her grey-haired senpai, and so far she pushed them to her overall struggle to find an acceptable social norm when intermingling with her team peers. Naoto still wasn't sure what he could have to present that would need her professional expertise, but she would certainly give it her best. "Where were you thinking?"

He pressed his lips together and took the lead. After a brief moment's hesitation, Naoto followed him quietly. They walked through the halls of the main building, crossed the sections between it and the club rooms, ending up in the assembly hall. He was silent and she followed, simply awaiting further details.

Entering the large, empty hall, Naoto scanned the area. No members of faculty, no students. The basketball club seemed to have prepared for a gathering later, but right now, everyone seemed to enjoy their break elsewhere.

Before her, her senpai hopped on the stairs leading up to the small stage which could be used for the morning assembly or for plays and contests. Narukami frowned before he pulled a folded letter from inside his breast pocket and offered it to her. "Here. Have a look."

The hand that had just rested on her hip came forward and she took the letter. It was folded the traditional way, being both the envelope and the message in one. Naoto took the paper and slowly turned it over in her hands, viewing it from all sides. "There is no address on this, how was it delivered?"

He smirked. "Already deducing things."

He then chuckled as she tucked her cap down to hide the forming blush. She was not immediately sure if he was mocking her... or admiring. And she was not sure which one would be a bigger problem. "I am sorry; I should have let you explain first."

"No, please, ask, else I might forget to mention things. Like: Here, Naoto, this was delivered to my house yesterday, without a sending address and directly in my name."

She nodded and paused. "I should have worn gloves then. Now my prints are on it and-"

"Your prints?"

"Fingerprints, senpai?” She held the letter up between index and middle finger. “If handled by the naked hand, then even paper can hold on to them. It could have been traced and recorded, giving us a hint as to who the sender might have been. But by now, my prints are on it as well, muddling that trail."

"Oh..." His face fell. "I hadn't even considered that. My prints are also all over. I've opened, read and re-read it dozens of times before I thought of asking you for help."

Naoto pursed her lips, then nodded again slowly. "I see. Unfortunate, but that would have rendered any previous prints just about unreadable. Well then, on to the paper itself." She unfolded the letter and turned it inside-out, lifting the page towards the skylights, the writing pointing away from her. "No watermarks... so not an expensive paper." She rubbed the pages between forefinger and thumb. "Printing paper, made to both absorb ink and laser printed writing."

His smile looked a bit strained as he tried to joke, "Want to test-taste it?"

She knew he was mocking her, but she went along with his jibe. "Not necessary in this case. I can see that it is chorine-bleached office paper of low-to-medium grade. I am sure we would find about three dozen printers in offices alone here in Inaba that use it, plus however many private homes. Without extensive laboratory examinations, I would not be able to tell much more about the paper."

Her senpai gave a muted hum. "That's already more than I would have thought to check."

She nodded to herself, agreeing with his assessment of his own skill. "Quite possibly, yes. There was no reason to think that you would know more."

"Naoto-kun..." He sounded strained. “You really need to work on this.”

Her head snapped up. "Senpai?"

"That was cold."

She gave him a puzzled look, then re-evaluated her last comment. Unease crept into her. He was not mistaken in his comment. While she had merely wanted to re-affirm his own evaluation, she had made it sound as if he needed to be belittled for lack of skill. "My apologies, Yu-senpai. I merely wished to confirm that you yourself, without extensive training, could not have been expected to know more."

His frown melted and he nodded. "Better. We'll break you out of your prickly shell yet." She heard him laugh as she turned to hide her face. "Sorry, sorry, Naoto, that was rude on my side of things. Please, continue. This is interesting." To underline his words, he leaned his elbows on his knees and cupped his chin in his hands.

"Yes, well." The junior detective cleared her throat and eyed the content of the letter. It was printed, in fairly large font. ‘don't rescue any more’ - no punctuation, no indication of which 'more' the letter was about. She frowned. "And this was directed to you Personally?"

"Yes. Well. No. Nanako brought it to me last night after she checked the mail."

“It had been dropped into the mailbox? Not slid under the door or put unto your person?”

“No… just in the mailbox…”

"And when Nanako retrieved the mail, she saw no one near the house?"

"If she had, she didn't mention it."

"Hm." She lifted a hand and absent-mindedly bit into the knuckle of her index finger, trying to assemble the picture in her head. She had not Personally met Nanako, aside from a brief run-in at the summer festival, before the girl knew who she was. She was observant, eager to emulate the Witch Detective she adored so. If she had noticed someone, she might have mentioned it. However, asking her now... "If we asked her now, I doubt she could still clearly recall, so let's assume she did not."

"Okay."

"What is her routine? Is she the one to always check the mail?"

"Usually, yes, unless my uncle comes home earlier."

"You do not check the mail?"

"I... it never crossed my mind," he admitted, looking a bit uneasy. "I never wanted to feel at home here in Inaba, because I always knew I would only be here for a year or so."

"Understandable, really. I try to not to get attached to any persons or locations myself," she nodded and gave him a brief look of understanding. Her senpai, much like herself, knew of the dangers of entanglements. In this regard, a kindred spirit.

She filed that thought away for later.

Yu dropped his hands and leaned forward a bit, his arms still resting on his knees. "So, even you cannot tell much from this?"

"Aside from the obvious?"

"What is obvious to us? Just for the record."

She closed her eyes with a smile and placed her hand back on her hip. "I will gladly recap. A letter was delivered to your residence without the use of the general postal service or a general messenger service. In it, a message that does not seem to state a whole lot. One could assume it was a neighbour who has discovered your fondness for feeding stray cats," here she opened her left eye and smirked at his surprised expression, "but I assume that no one would simply be that vague for something so very innocuous."

"How do you-"

She closed her eye, pleased with herself. If anything, her smile grew. "Your fondness for feline companionship is an open secret, senpai. It was, indeed, one of the first things I could easily find out about your Personal habits."

He slowly turned and gave her a very comfortable smirk. "So you investigated my _Personal habits_ , Naoto-kun?"

Her eyes popped open wide and she felt a blush creep on her cheeks.

She had no idea how to deal with him when he got like this. Open. Forward. _Flirtatious_! Not once had she actually had this kind of attention on her from someone before. Sure, many of the girls in their school seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with the _Detective Prince_ , but this… this felt different. Direct. Unflinching. Confident.

Unable to think of a way to rise to the challenge, she tried to handle it by pushing through. "N-Not you s-specifically, senpai! I-I... Everyone in the group, I spend time to-"

His warm laugh flustered her into silence. "No, it's fine, Naoto, I am just teasing." He grinned and rested his chin in his palm again. "Continue."

She busied herself with folding the letter. "Yes. Well." She handed it back to him, avoiding eye contact. The first-year felt uneasy, out of her depth with his behaviour towards her. "I assume it is safe to assume that the killer noticed that their method has been fully disrupted and he is rather displeased now."

"You are still certain it cannot be a woman?"

"A woman with the upper body strength to restrain Tatsu-..." She paused. Frowned. Worried her lip with her teeth. Crossed her arms.

_hereallydoesnotlikeitwhenyoucallhimthatyouknow_

Naoto _tsk’ed_ and hunched her shoulders. She did not need her Persona to remind her.

Tatsumi-kun had been quite insistent on no longer being addressed as such. During the study session, which she had proposed to ensure their bridges would be well and truly mended, he had first begged her, then finally snapped at her whenever she slipped. _'Kanji_ ,' he had whined _, 'jus' Kanji, ya? Like everyone else!'_ She sighed at the memory.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry.” She uncrossed her arms slowly and brought her mind back to the matter at hand. “As I meant to say: Someone with the upper body strength to capture and restrain Ta- _ngh_ , Kanji-kun, even if they use a chemical agent, would be considerable."

"Mhm, yeah, Kanji's really beefy."

Her mind wandered, showed him as she had seen him at Club Escapade a few months prior. Toned arms and shoulders showed her the image of someone sturdy; immobile if he found something to oppose and fierce if provoked. Anyone who would dare challenge him would be out of their minds - or, as she had learned since, know him and his actual nature very well.

He was really quite gentle, rather insecure and deeply concerned for his friends. When with the others, she often would find him hovering near one of the girls, glaring down strangers as they passed. It felt like a mantle over them, a protective screen he would put up to avoid trouble by threatening the same. He had also started to behave in a similar manner around her. At first she had thought it was him trying to scare others off of Rise-san, but she had since noticed him doing the same even when the idol was nowhere near them. Maybe this was his ungainly and very abstract way of offering her his friendship. Something she would need to ponder, another day.

She noticed Sukuna-Hikona stir in the back of her mind when she had started to go down the path or these thoughts and concentrated briefly to shut him away. He seemed... touchy when it came to the hulking teen, possibly because he shared her feelings regarding over-protective tendencies in her new acquaintances.

None of this was worth sharing with her senpai, however. She settled to comment to his observation with a brief, "He is very fit, yes."

Their leader gave her an odd sideways glance at her comment, but as she could not place it, she chose to overlook the cue. "Unless we have a medal-winning female weight-lifter in the area, yes, a male is the one we look for. Possibly someone either well-fit themselves, or someone more on the side of lean and long-limbed."

"Oh? And what do you base the second conjecture on, Detective Prince?"

She knew it was meant as a light-hearted comment, and yet she could not help wincing and frowning at the ground.

"I'm sorry.” She looked up to see him sit up straight, tilting his head at her. “You do not like that nickname, do you?"

Her head snapped up and she fumbled for words. "N-No. My apologies, I did not mean to-"

"You may tell people if they are being rude to you, Naoto-kun." He smiled warmly. "You may tell me especially. I cannot be in your trust if you feel uneasy around me."

"I... suppose so. In which case, yes, I dislike the nickname. It was given to me by the press and stuck as a moniker to ensure there was a snappy name connected to the news they would find around me."

He nodded and lifted his right hand with an informal bow to her. "My apologies."

"So... yes..." She tucked her cap, fighting an odd warm sensation in her chest. "Long limbs and slender build make for long muscle which can be very effective when grappling."

"Ah, I see." Yu looked at the letter in his hand. "I'm sorry I ruined the evidence."

Naoto shook her head. "No, I have a feeling the culprit would be wise enough to avoid leaving traces. If he is confident enough to seek you out and demand you to be inactive going forward, then he will have considered your abilities and the abilities of the Investigation Team."

He smiled as he turned towards her. Something in his eyes caught her and she felt another wave of warmth. "Including a very capable detective in our midst. Thank you, Naoto."

She tucked her cap roughly, then crossed her arms, simply nodding. "However, the team needs to be informed."

"I agree. Let us gather everyone on the roof after class."

 

* * *

 

She watched the team closely as they surrounded Yu-senpai, trying to read it over his shoulder or around his arms. Naoto herself stood back, pondering. The team seemed mainly confused, and it much mirrored her own thoughts. Who had been observing them? Had she been under surveillance as well? Did the murderer never stop observing them after he realised they foiled his plan? Worse, was he trying to find a way to put them back in the shadow world? Perhaps bringing Teddie in more needed to be considered. Perhaps keep a stash of weapons, aid items and similar at his... well. His home.

It was Tatsumi's gruff voice that brought her back into the moment. "Ain't this just a prank? The kinda stuff that only happens in the movies?" He seemed to glare at the paper, demanding it to give him answers.

"I'm pretty sure whoever sent this is serious." Yu refolded the letter and slipped it into his pocket. "Maybe I should tell my uncle."

Naoto shook her head ardently. "Senpai, Dojima-san is trustworthy, but it would be best to keep this matter covert for now. Keeping it to ourselves," she added, gazing at Tatsumi to make sure he was on the same page. "If he were to put you under surveillance or even police protective custody, our hands would be tied."

Chie-san winced. "No kidding. We'd be stuck."

"Besides, if this letter is real," Naoto continued, forehead creased in thought, "what's most important isn't what it says. The envelope was addressed directly to Narukami-senpai and delivered - by hand - to the Dojima residence, home of one of the lead police detectives investigating the case. The text itself is a straightforward warning - but the subtext expresses that the culprit knows who has been interfering with his crimes, and his confidence that we cannot use it to pinpoint his identity." She nodded and gazed at the team one by one. "A warning, a threat and a boast, all in one."

"Knew there was a reason we kept you around," Yu-senpai said, and smiled at her in that warm and polarising manner he had.

She furiously tucked her cap lower, feeling that tell-tale warmth again and gazed at their leader from the corner of her eye. He had readily caused this reaction today. She needed to later review the way their interactions had gone to formulate a better defence against his …teasing. However, they had more important matters at hand right now.

"What about…ah, you know, the stuff they do on TV shows." Yosuke-senpai held up his palm, twisting his fingers. "Getting the paper checked for fingerprints, DNA, that kinda thing?"

She crossed her arms and turned to their leader.

"Naoto-kun and I talked about that when we met over lunch. Unfortunately, I got my own prints all over the letter last night before I knew what it was." He scowled and shook his head. "I should've suspected something when there wasn't a stamp on the envelope."

"No. You could hardly be expected to do otherwise," Naoto said, quick and firm. He had not been at fault in this and he needed to remain confident before the group. Her gaze dropped as she realised another truth. "In any case, I no longer have access to the police station crime lab to request testing. And I suspect our culprit has been careful to cover his tracks, or his confidence would be misplaced."

She shifted, her right hand creeping up to her left shoulder, holding on tightly. She could possibly still tap some of the private laboratories the Shirogane family had worked with in the past years, however, she would need to only call on them if needed desperate and if she had a better chance of finding something – a letter muddled with countless prints of uninvolved people would not be such.

 _How I’ve fallen. I still need to capture the murderer for the case that brought me here, and I am reduced to working with a few children; civilians who have no understanding of actual police work._ Her gaze dropped as she worried her lip under her teeth.

"We’ve got nothin’ ta worry!" Kanji snapped, punching one fist against his other hand with his trademark sneer. "We're gonna beat that asshole down, no worries."

Trust in Tatsumi-kun to take a bleak moment and turn it into something light-hearted. A tiny smile formed on her lips. _It is comforting to know he is with us on this_. Deep within, she felt an echo of contentedness from Sukuna-Hikona.

Yukiko-senpai gave both her arms a quick rub. "I think it's really creepy. I mean, I've been dealing with patrons being inappropriate at the inn and never felt quite as creeped out as with this letter." She stared at the others for a moment. "It seems this person thought about how to hide in plain sight with the letter and it's too specific. But how could the killer know so much about us?"

"Teddie's been saying for a while that when we're over there, he senses someone watching us," Yosuke-senpai said - then his eyes widened. "Wait. Every time we went to the other side to rescue someone, did we end up on the Midnight Channel ourselves?"

Rise-san cringed. "Oh man, I really hope not! Bad enough everyone saw me like-you know, like that."

 _Like that...?_ Like what? Naoto frowned. Yes, she remembered her shadow and having her deepest hidden secret blown wide open for these teens to see... It had been traumatic, to say the least, and part of her exhaustion after she had been taken back to her home was emotional. And then there was the lingering rumour about her true sex...

But as she opened her mouth to ask what exactly Rise-san meant by 'that', she closed it again, her gaze turning towards the hills in the distance at a realisation. So far, not one of the teens had discussed their shadows with her. Maybe it was a sign of mistrust towards her still. Maybe it was something of a rite between those older or who had been before her. Based on the grimaces of those assembled around her, whatever Kujikawa had undergone had been deeply problematic as well. She would ask another time. If she ever felt their relationship demanded a deeper understanding.

She tried to keep following the conversation.

"I haven't heard any rumours about us at school, though." Chie-senpai's voice. "Even the people who I know check the channel haven't said anything. The only gossip I heard was about the people who disappeared."

"Same here," said Yu-senpai.

"And that's our two social butterflies out." While he said it jokingly, Yosuke-senpai let out a long, displeased breath. "We don't even know how that place works, man. Even if people are watching, they might not be able to see us there."

Had she been seen? Who all had witnessed the Shadows reveal? She frowned, her knuckles pressed to her lips. A worrying thought. But only hypothesis and not something to be wondered about at this time. She muttered against her fingers, "That matter is not a priority at present. There's too little data to go on." She paused, pondering a moment. What was pressing? The case, obviously. What else? Well... that she solved it. Obviously. "It's imperative we keep in mind that the culprit knows who we are." Her hand dropped to her hip and she straightened. "…That will have to be enough for now."

"Tha’s right," Tatsumi nodded, cracking his knuckles in his fists. "I mean, freaking out over this crap, tha's jus' what the killer wants us to do, right?"

He can be rather astute, when he stays focussed...

_hesnotdumbhessmartaboutstuff_

_'Stuff. But not subjects.'_

_whyareyoualwaysmean_?

She blinked. Sukuna rarely openly sulked, and that had sounded like one. _'What do you mean?'_

 _youarenotnicetoKanjiwhyareyounotnice_?

_'I am under no obligation to be kind or unkind to any one individual in our group, Sukuna-kun. Tatsumi-'_

_wantstobecalledKanji_

'-TATSUMI,' she insisted, at least in her mind she would be polite, 'is simply not adept in certain cognitive exercises.'

Her Persona fell into a sulky quiet and Naoto realised the group had fallen quiet around her. If there had been a question, she realised in horror, she missed it. However, when Chie-san spoke up, it became clear she had not accidentally been put on the spot.

"Mind if I change the subject then? Something a lot more fun. The culture festival's just around the corner - anyone know what our class is doing?"

Yu-senpai shrugged. "Aren't they still gathering ideas?"

"Huh. Are they now?" His head tipped back against the fence, Yosuke-senpai's expression quickly turned into that unbearable smirk of his. It seems the junior detective wasn't the only one annoyed by it.

"I know that look," her sporty senpai said, cringing. "Hanamura just got hit with a bolt of inspiration - and whatever it is, it'll be out there. I'd bet my lunch on it."

"Must be serious then," he shot back and dodged the fist she aimed at his stomach. "Don't worry, Satonaka, it's a great idea. You'll love it." He glanced at each of the kohai in turn. "What about you guys? You're all in different classes."

Kanji-kun - she really did try to heed his request! - shrugged. "Dunno what mine's doing. Not interested in that stuff."

She nodded. A sensible approach. Then she felt everyone's eyes turn on her. "I, um-I haven't really paid attention," Naoto answered, uneasy by the sudden focus. "But obviously we have far more pressing concerns and-"

Rise-san chose that moment to, possibly accidentally, come to her aid. She shot past her and latched on to Yu-senpai's arm. "Senpai, have you decided who you'll be going around the campus with during the festival?" she trilled, smiling her stadium smile. "My schedule's still wide open, you lucky guy!"

"Figures." Chie-senpai supplied while rolling her eyes. "Quiet the whole time, just waiting for her chance!"

Yu-senpai glanced down at Rise's arm, still locked in a death-grip around his. "Guess you'd better pencil me in, then."

Somehow, that last exchange bothered her more than she felt it really ought to.

"As I was trying to say," she continued, raising her voice a bit, "some matters would feel more pressing. With the murderer not only still active, but now aware of our investigation, it would be prudent to head into the Shadow World and train." She gave a short, measured glance at each of her peers in turn. "The sooner, the better."

"Oh, hey, yeah, I'm game," Yosuke-senpai chimed in at once, grinning wildly at his 'partner'.

"Ah, I fear I cannot," Yukiko-senpai said mildly. "I need to help out at the inn. Chie, if you-"

"Nu-hu, I promised I'll help out, too. These guys can do without us for a change!" The two girls bid their fare-wells and headed off at once.

"What about you, Kanji?" Yosuke elbowed the tall boy repeatedly. "Your chance to be a hero for-UMPF!"

Naoto gave both boys a shocked looked and walked over to her senpai, gently holding him by the shoulders as he wheezed for air. It seemed that Tatsumi had elbowed right back - but in doing so hit Hanamura hard in the sternum. "Are you all right, senpai? Tatsumi-kun, really!"

"I-I ... ugh, sorry, I didn't..." He trailed off and Naoto shot him a look. "Didn't mean ta... so hard..."

The shaggy-haired boy wheezed a laugh. "It's fine, Naoto, trust me, I had that one come coming for a few days. Thanks for not breaking anything, Kanji..."

The delinquent gave her an odd stare, glared at the shaggy-haired boy and then mumbled something about needing to go and stormed away.

"What about you, Rise? Are you free?"

"I think so. Let me call my Grandma to find out if she needs me today." Rise pulled out her phone and stepped aside.

"You know, partner, if this works out, we should ask Teddie to come along, too. He's been bored with all of us being so busy all week."

"Sounds good. We could do a small exploration, run some easier shadows and work on Naoto's teamwork."

She blushed, tugging on her cap. "Senpai, I assure you, I do apply myself to-"

"Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that," Yu-senpai apologised. "We've started to use signs in case we get silence or similar, so we can still communicate during combat. I suggest we run a few battles as if we were unable to summon, or heal, or other such situations. That way, you can get used to our signals and get..." He trailed off, then smirked at her. "More efficient."

The warm smile directed at her made her feel uneasy and warm once again and she stared at the ground. "I see. I am sorry for jumping to conclusions."

"Hey, no sweat," Hanamura supplied, "you couldn't have known. It'll be fun to do some exercises like this, can only help make us better, right?"

"Right, partner."

"All sorted," the cheerful, squeaky voice of Kujikawa cut in. "Call Teddie, we're going shadow hunting! Oh yeah!"

 

* * *

 

"Alright! Finally, I'm seeing some action again. I was starting to think we're no longer buddies, partner, you had me benched forever!"

"He was getting bear-y anxious about it all. You should have heard him cry, sensei, it was so- OW!"

Naoto tried hard to hide her smile as she checked her trigger mechanism and reloaded her revolver, her back turned to the boys.. She had to admit that coming out to train with Yosuke-senpai, Yu-senpai and Teddie was not merely a necessity to her training, it was most enjoyable. There was a certain dynamic with them that lifted her spirits. She very nearly felt like an intruder, a foreign element into the playful banter the three boys exchanged between battles.

"Nice moves, you two," she heard Yu say. "I see your bomber attack keeps looking better and better."

Returning Algernon to its holster, Naoto turned around to join the conversation proper. "Actually, I intended to inquire about that. It seemed as if you both executed the attack together, Yosuke-senpai, Teddie-kun."

Without care for his own safety, she noticed Yosuke scratch an itch on his back with his _kunai_. "Heh, yeah. Teddie and I noticed that our Persona get along really well, so we allowed them to fool around a bit and then one day when we were in a bit of a pinch, it just kinda came together." He gave an embarrassed grin and started to twirls his knifes in his hands.

 _That... didn't really explain much._ "I see, however, my question was more directed at the mechanics of the execution. It appears elaborate." She had the tact not to add: Especially seeing how Teddie struggled at times to even land on his feet.

"Well, that's pretty much it though. Our Personas kind of do the heavy lifting."

 _Lifting_? "Are you being purposefully vague, Yosuke-senpai?"

"No," Teddie added, hopping over in his squeaky shoes. "We just don't really know how it works, Nao-chan." She closed her eyes for a moment, willing to not blush. Yes, she is female, but having the oddly familiar - _chan_ used by Teddie still made her scalp itch. The bear continued, "See, we just summon them while running towards one another; kind of making it clear to them what we are trying to do. But everything else is up to them. Like, it just sort of happens when we allow them to do this, I think?"

Naoto tugged down her cap and pondered. It was a masterful, strong attack, certainly. Being able to execute it at will would be beneficial. Also, in the back of her mind, Sukuna-Hikona chirped at her with curiosity and interest. "Could you teach me... yes, sorry, I mean, could you teach us how to execute the attack?"

Teddie and Yosuke exchanged an odd look. "Uhm. I am not sure I..." Yosuke-kun started, Teddie filling in, "I mean we could always..." They both shrugged.

Teddie summoned his card first and slashed it with his claws. "Come on out, Kamui!" His playful Persona rolled into existence and happily waved at the others present. It happily bumped shoulders with Teddie, then bounced around the teens. Yu simply stood a little apart from them, his arms crossed, watching with a smile.

"So, uhm..." Teddie raised his eyebrows at Naoto.

"Ah, yes, of course." She, too, willed forward her arcana, but not being in a rush she simply crushed it in her hand. Sukuna-Hikona faded into existence, seemingly spiralling from a dive-bombing flight before the others. Kamui waved happily at her elegant, uniformed Persona, and it returned the greeting by a salute of its sword and a bow.

Teddie turned to his Persona and gave it a serious nod. "Right! So, Kamui! Nao-chan here would like to learn how to drop bombs with you! I don't know how to teach her, but may...be...?" Teddie trailed off as his Personas arms started to droop and it looked … somehow sad. Sukuna-Hikona had been watching them, but he, too, seemed to slump a bit. Naoto felt the disappointment in the back her mind and knew it to be her Personas.

"He does not wish to..." She stopped to listen to the knot of feelings in the back of her mind for a moment, "no, he is _unable_ to teach us?"

Teddie nodded and sighed. "He said it only works with his buddy and he wouldn't know if Sukuna-Hikona can understand him well enough."

"But didn't Yu-senpai say that they can communicate to one another? Like a shared subconsciousness?" Naoto turned to her upper class man, hoping he could help.

His expression had changed, it was now puzzled and slightly vacant, as if he, too, was listening to someone in the back of his mind. "Yes, they can... but I think Kamui meant something else."

Kamui looked at his owner, seemed to lift its short arms in a shrug, and vanished. Shortly after, she heard the chirp of her Persona as it faded back inside of her.

_cannotteachmeneedscloserfriend_

She tilted her head, her eyes sliding out of focus as she listened to him. _'What do you mean?'_

_needtobeveryveryclosetotheotherneedtodeeplyunderstandthem_

Naoto nodded. She answered her Persona and Teddie out loud. "Like the bond between the best of friends, or possibly a close partnership."

She heard the affirmative trill in time with the three boys nodding at her. "Yeah, you get it," Yosuke nodded. "I think because Teddie lives with me, our Personas get to spend much more time together, so they know each other really well."

She nodded, her gaze falling onto Yu. "Have you bonded in this fashion with anyone yet?" She did not add that she felt it would be logical for her to join a bond with him, as they had now spent more time together and they were certainly establishing close bonds, if his teasing of her was any indicator. That is, she was hoping they were.

Yu tilted his head, his eyes went out of focus for a moment, before looking at down at her. She swallowed to fight a spreading dryness in her mouth. "I kind of do. Izanagi says he is bound to the others residing inside of me. He leads them, they support him. He says he doubts he will ever be as close to anyone else than to them."

The feeling of hurt she felt at these words was absolutely irrational and unnecessary. Sadly, that did not change the fact of the feeling itself.

Yu watched her and when he replied it showed that he misunderstood her disappointment. "That does not mean you cannot try it. I think Kanji never linked up with anyone in combat. Maybe you could ask him."

"Kanji-kun?"

_hesnice_

_'Well, he is at that, but I am not entirely convinced that-'_

_TakeMiisnicetoo_

_'He is?'_ The made her pause. She conjured up the image of the hulking, black, mechanical-looking Persona that joined Kanji-kun in battle at times. _'He looks so... off-putting.'_

 _Hesnice,_ her Persona insisted once more.

"I see," she said, both in reply to her Persona as well as in reply to Yu-senpai. "I believe I will speak to Kanji-kun then, to see if he would agree to some training. Would you supervise us in this, Yu-senpai?" _Hope, hope will go last. He might also still change his mind, if we simply spend more time together._

He smiled and nodded, before turning back to the hallways of her shadows' laboratory.

Sukuna-Hikona had fallen silent at once, as if hiding in a deeper recess of her _self_. He often did that when she thought about Yu-senpai or spoke to him. She had only recently started to notice this pattern of behaviour, and she was uncertain if it really meant anything.

_'Are you still there?'_

Oddly, while at times it would almost lead conversations with her, other times it would behave as if it could not hear her or reply to her.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey gang!
> 
> Thank you all so much for patiently waiting while I laid waste to a bunch of random plot bunnies in the past weeks. DF is back to being my main focus, so we may see some movement now - finally.
> 
> Question: We're marching towards the Culture Festival, which zero-damge / jackdawq had covered quite well in three chapters of Shortest Distance (21-23, chapter 17, Interlude 5 and chapter 18), and I feel a lot of it was covered beautifully already. Would you guys rather have I summarize most of the festival, or would you like a more detailed view of the festival from Naoto's side?


	34. Chapter Thirty-Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto struggles through a rainy afternoon filled with both fighting to make friends and understanding how she made friends. Why do people still litter her shoe locker? Why can she not find any topics of conversation with Tatsumi? And since when is Amagi interested in crime novels?

**October 22 nd, 2011**

 

Naoto dreaded the spaces of time throughout the day which did not have a clearly defined structure. Not because she could not think on her feet and not because she needed to be directed; that was not the issue at all. She needed neither hand-holding, nor babysitting. There was no requirement for her to be directed by anyone.

But a clear set goal for her time spent was something she cherished. It allowed her to plan her day and her goals so much better, if the day had basic confinements. If she was involved in case work, that was what defined her. If she was involved in school activates, she had that to drive her. Work in its many forms was the core fuel for the Shirogane engine; the one thing she needed to be driven, motivated, engaged.

Social activates had, on the other hand, never come into play in all of this. Her time with the Investigation Team always felt more meaningful to her, and much easier to bear, when she had a set goal. Yesterday that goal had been to learn the gestures and hand-signs used in case an ailment struck a teammate. She approached being in the 'dungeons' as she would approach her time at the shooting range. It wasn't a time to laugh or chat or goof around, even if it seems that doing just that was a distractingly often employed use of their time in the Midnight Channel.

But no other exercise felt as much a waste of time as clearing out her shoe locker at school.

As she approached the lockers, she saw two first-year girls dart away, casting her a shy glance and dissolving into giggles. _More of my fans..._

The junior Shirogane squared up before the lockers and crossed her arms.

This daily ritual was ridiculous. She had not encouraged this in any form. She had stopped trying to be polite about it; was no longer hiding that she threw away the items placed into her locker. Littering her space was rude, why should she attempt to spare anyone's feelings? Besides, none of these letters was addressed to her. Every time she saw glimpses of the envelopes, they all shared the same theme. _Clues to my heart. My Prince. The Mysterious Detective. My sweet Detective Prince._ Letters to fictional characters would never be read - anyone could realise that.

Gritting her teeth, Naoto flung open the locker door and dove in, gathering up the stack of only so much more waste paper to be disposed of. If she was the type, she would have started swearing out loud; made her frustration and annoyance some air.

Someone else took on that mantle for her and she gave a startled jump, clutching the letters close for a moment. Turning, she saw Kanji Tatsumi stare blankly thought the glass entry outside. His personal brand of stress relief had send a few students scramble elsewhere; their footsteps all drawing away from the lockers. The girl turned to him. Clearly, he was distraught about something. Clearly, she was the only one near enough to offer any kind of support. Clearly, as a fellow member of the investigation team, approaching him fell to her. Clearly, he would appreciate her general concern.

Clearly, she wished she knew the tall boy better.

He hunched his shoulders, that motion always making him stoop and shrink in on himself a bit. That he was quite clearly annoyed was a given, but what had triggered his outburst was not.

"Is something wrong, Kanji-kun?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

She observed as his posture stiffened and his shoulders slowly hunched forward even further. He was feeling defensive, likely due to her direct approach to his outburst. However, she had addressed him. It would be only polite to acknowledge her question.

Nothing happened. If anything, he slowly shrunk in on himself further and she noticed his eyes dart sideways to her a few times. She could simply ignore this. She could simply turn away and pretend he had not heard her. But with her own mood being less than brimming with tact... _Time to make it a challenge._

"Kanji-kun?" Naoto stepped closer, a slight frown now on her face. If he were to attempt to further ignore her now, he would make a fool of himself, not of her.

He fidgeted once more, then stared down at her after a number of quick glances in her direction. "Uh. No. Sorry." His eyes wandered to her hands. "What're all those envelopes?"

Her expression darkened. He had the uncanny and unsettling skill of not noticing the obvious and focussing on something that by all rights was a minor thing and should be discarded. She chose a succinct answer. "Letters."

Sometimes just observing the tall teen was a quaint form of entertainment. His facial expressions mirrored his moods so directly, so clearly. In passing, the junior detective wondered if the boy knew how easy it was to read him. He was an open book to her, and she, as a trained professional, studied the story he told openly.

First - annoyance. He frowned, his thin dark eyebrows pulling low, his jaw setting tightly. He had expected more, clearly, and now had to connect the dots himself.

Then - confusion. The brow stayed low, but the sides of his eyes crinkled. Also, his hulking stoop changed; he lifted his head and shoulders and leaned back slightly.

Finally - recognition. His brows shot up, his shoulders and back slowly sank and his face wiped clear of all expression for a moment before returning to a more neutral stare. "Oh. They-they're-"

"Letters of a-affection," the girl jumped in, stumbling a little on the last word. She tried to reach for her cap to give it a well-needed tug, forgot her hands holding the letters and scattered a few before she could stop the started hand motion. A few of the envelopes drifted to the floor. Naoto _tsk_ ed and turned her head sharply.

He bent forward and picked them up for her, holding them out like a man offering his date flowers. "Ya lost some."

"Ah. Thank you." Naoto nodded toward the trashcan by the main door. "Please dispose of them there." She started to head in the indicated direction for the same errant.

"Y-you don't read 'em?" She had not thought his face could possibly mirror even more confusion, but there he was, proving her wrong.

Already halfway to the trashcan, she swivelled round and shot the boy a glare. "Absolutely not.” The stare she gave him was as good as a physical punctuation. “I have no interest in entanglements. There are far more pressing matters than professions from people who know nothing about me."

She dropped the letters into the trash, where they belonged. It was very much as she had told her two female senpai not too long ago. These letters, these declarations, they were not meant for her. They were written for a dreamed-up fictional character. A love letter to Sherlock Holmes would have the same chance of being answered or acted upon. _The moment the Detective Prince suddenly becomes a reality; he will certainly take the time to be a dashing lover. Until then, Naoto Shirogane will remove herself from this attention._ She frowned deeper. _Actually, he would not make a dashing lover – he would be too busy._

She turned and saw Tatsumi, still holding on to her letters. He did not understand, of course. How could he? He had been claimed by Kujikawa and did not need to worry about unwanted affections. The girl did not strike Naoto as someone who would willingly share – or even allow a rival to come close.

She closed the distance to the tall teen and pulled the letters he held from his hands. "I thought all this would stop once people knew," she muttered, as she took the last few envelopes from his hand and dropped them in the bin.

"They like you no matter what, it don't make no difference."

This gave her pause. Gazing over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed as she took Kanji Tatsumi in. He paled slightly, as if shocked at his own words. He should be, really. What he just spouted was utter nonsense.

As Naoto turned, keeping him locked in her gaze, she took in every twitch, every movement. Watched how he looked away quickly, took note of how he first paled, then blushed. Something was wrong about this, but what? He seemed to try to bluff, but for what purpose? Why did he try so hard to be a champion for the affections of his classmates directed at her?

…why would it matter either way?

"How could it not?" she muttered, turning back to her locker.

"You're-you're still you."

But was she? She had been, for years now, role-playing the boy-heir to the Shirogane empire; the son his parents never had; the competent, trusted partner to numerous police forces. Was she still that? _Could_ she still be that? "Do you truly believe-" Naoto stopped short and shook her head. _Whatever his thoughts were, they did not matter. They could not influence the truth – that she was a revealed fraud._ "These, these-admirers. They're delusional,” she mumbled, not fully looking over her shoulder.

_Delusional. So was I, believing this game would continue past my early teen years._

Naoto tipped her cap back down and leaned her shoulder against the lockers, slipping her indoor-shoes off. She slipped her pumps back on, trying to will Tatsumi to stop being so… attentive.

"The shop. I-I gotta go," he stammered, turning to leave, headed towards the downpour.

"Kanji-kun, wait." The boy could be so scattered, really. He hadn’t even taken out his umbrella yet.

He turned around. "S'up?" he squeaked, possibly intimidated by her yet again. Honestly, she didn’t mean to, but he seemed cowed easily. She kept meaning to find out how to best mend her relationship to the tall bruiser of the Investigation Team, but she seemed to always come up short.

Naoto gestured toward the glass doors. "It is raining. Where is your umbrella?"

"Uh, yeah. F-forgot it this mornin'." He shrugged. "I-I'll just run home, ain't no problem."

She paused for a moment, and chewed on her bottom lip. _Well. I did want a chance to start making him more comfortable in his interactions with me._ Naoto reached into her locker and pulled out a clear plastic umbrella. "I have one," she said and held it out towards him.

He flashed her a smile. "Great! Stay dry."

Her gaze held him. _How do I say this?!_ She noticed the Umbrella point at the boy almost like a raised blade. For all her eloquence, she found herself unable to force out the jumble of words that would equate to ‘Let’s share an umbrella’. She had acted without thinking, and now she found herself unable to find a way forward or out.

The underlying romantic idea of a boy and a girl sharing a rain screen was not lost on her. The more her mind focussed on that little fact, the more it refused to find the words to put the idea forth.

Tatsumi pulled himself up suddenly. "No way! I ain't taking it from you, you'll get-"

"I wasn't proposing you  _take_  it. I… I pass near the shopping district on my way home." Not the entire truth, it would be ‘going the long way around’, really, but she was both a school mate and a member of the Investigation Team. _And if I want to be honest, he has been trying to be a friend, if I consider his actions towards me. And I myself have suggested that a friendship should be a goal to strive for. Why does this appear to be so hard?_

_ithinkhereallywantstobefriends_

_‘I see you are still here after all.’_

_dontbemean_

“It really would not be any trouble, T-Kanji-kun.” She swallowed the stumble and watched him closely.

"Oh." Kanji blinked, then scratched the back of his head. "Y-you don't hafta-I'll be fine, no worries."

Naoto shook her head, her mind made up. "The detour from my normal route will be minor. It is of no inconvenience to me."

She frowned. He was fighting this pretty hard. But why would he? Would it not be more welcome to arrive home dry, or at least dryer than he would be dashing through the rain? He would do this for other members of the team, would he not? But maybe… maybe that was the issue. There is an underlying romantic understanding in sharing this much personal space. He might simply be worried that Rise Kujikawa sees them together.

She had not thought her impulse through fully, and now cornered the boy into a possibly problematic situation. She would offer him an out. "But if you don't wish to, that's-"

"No!” he cut in sharply, loudly. “Ah… I mean, yeah, I do. Wish to." The boy flapped an arm towards the school gates. "L-let's go, yeah?"

“Yes…” she said softly and kept an eye on him.

They stepped outside, Naoto opened the umbrella and, as she was the one who had offered the escort, held the screen up high, so he could duck under as well. He offered to take over, but she refused him with brief, polite words each time. All of this had been her idea, after all, she would not make him carry the burden now.

As they left school grounds, she tried to take her mind off the current situation, waiting for him to propose a topic of conversation.

“Y’know, if I hold the umbrella, you’d be more comfortable.”

“That will not be necessary, Kanji-kun.”

Conversation. That’s where she seemed to always stop with her new acquaintances. Finding a topic that they could contribute to easily. Something with meaning. Something that would further their newly found companionship.

It should be easy enough. They had the same basic curriculum. Lived in the same town. Had the same larger goal of finding out who was behind the murders.

If this was too high for a common denominator, there were other matters. The weather. School exams. Interactions with the family.

Nothing came to her. By the time they reached the Samagawa, she realised that this had been a foolish idea; Tatsumi was not a man to seek idle conversation, something she actually appreciated in him.

“’least lemme take over part of the way, hm?”

“I assure you, I am quite all right handling this.”

But even without his urge to fill in silences (and she did know that he could break under prolonged stretches of quiet), she was on her own in trying to find anything worth conversing.

As they hit the trail that would loop them to the shopping district, she started to wish she had something meaningful to say to him. Here was her chance to re-connect, mend bridges, build on their interactions of the past. But nothing came to her, no matter how hard she thought on it.

“Well, you know, I can jus’ hold it if you make yourself walk the extra way.”

“It would be unreasonable to pass the umbrella between us in that fashion.”

“Or, you know, I could just run. Really, look, I can see the shrine from here; could cut ‘cross the alleys just fine!”

“ _That_ would be just as irrational. Exerting yourself in this weather could lead to injury.”

As they approached his home, she resigned herself to having wasted a perfectly fine 20 minutes with not being able to find a single topic of conversation at all. Time she _should_ have used to become closer with her team mate. Well. There could always be next time.

“Ah, this… this will be okay, Naoto, I can just dash from here.”

“Nonsense. I am perfectly capable of escorting you the rest of the way.”

“Look, we’re already at your bus stop an’-“

“Stop being absurd.”

She still tried to come up with something, anything to say. Sadly, they already stopped at his door when she remembered she had wanted to ask him if his Persona had attempted to bond with another for a combined attack before.

He dodged under the awning of his house and turned back to face her.

They stood in silence as Naoto tried to find a way to either spark their conversation, or indeed gracefully exit.

In the end it was him who straightened and addressed her first. "Uh... do, do you-see, my ma, she-and I-"

As she stuttered himself to a halt, Naoto felt the same anxious tension she had felt the other day around Narukami-senpai. There was simply something new and unknown about the manner in which he addressed her. Something she had yet to experience in her profession. An urgent awkwardness that she felt an instinctive need to ease, but she did not understand how to best approach this desire – or him.

Slowly she saw his tension mount, until he finally choked out, "I-I'll see you tomorrow.”

"Ah. Yes, tomorrow." The moment passed, and she collected herself. "Goodbye, Kanji-kun."

Naoto turned and walked off, her mind already moved on from her missed chance - but not moved on from Kanji Tatsumi.

It had only been a few short months ago that she had affirmed - both to herself and to her Grampa, that she had secured the boys' assistance and would source him as a way to build her social net. But somehow, this was proving to be not as straight forward. Of course, she had never really drafted an action plan - and how could she have? She had still no real reference point on how to 'break the ice'. All she seemed to have amassed since then was a collection of missed chances. Her biggest one in this regard, most likely, was around the time of her rescue.

He had made an effort, now that she thought about it. He had visited her, tried to keep the ghastly flowers Rise-san had sent alive. Brought her food. Correction: _cooked_ food for her and brought it over personally.

She stopped at that thought and looked over her shoulder. Tatsumi Textiles was out of view already, the curve in the road having blocked her sight. The girl worried her lips with her teeth, pressing her lips tightly together as a result.

She still had never gotten a straight answer as for why he had brought her food. He had stuttered about how others had brought food, about how he felt their food would not stand up to her… needs. But he never actually said why. He clearly knew Rise-sans' cooking, not that it surprised Naoto much, seeing how close they appeared to be. But that he would go against his... well... girlfriend? That he would go and bring Naoto food, well, she was surprised still. Another riddle to solve at the appropriate time. Possibly after she solved the riddle of how Rise-san and Tatsumi-kun saw their relationship to one another.

Naoto turned to head down the road towards the bus stop, trying to shake the cobwebs from her mind. The junior detective idly mused about all the small ways she felt stuck. She felt stuck about the case. About her lack of training in the 'TV World'. About Narukami-senpai. About Tatsumi-kun. About her own progress. The only thing she seems to have any kind of control over right now were her own academic progress and her evenings.

The longer she pondered each point, over and over, the more her mood darkened.

After the last excursion Narukami had told his friends and her, that the short trip would be all they were geared to do, besides, he had promised to look after his cousin that evening. If she asked for more time to learn her skills and fighting, he waved her off. If she suggested it to others, they deflected her, saying that no one ever entered the TV without Narukami around. The one time she suggested to Rise-san to just do that, the girl seemed almost frightened.

And her stay was supposed to have been all about her progress and the case. This case which simply was not moving forward. Joining the team, so far, had brought no new insights at all. Indeed, _she_ had given _them_ more insights than they had before. Her hopes that they had a lead or at least an understanding had been largely crushed at this point.

Her confusion about the... well, the _flirting_ of Narukami had not yet lifted, either. Then again, he seemed friendly with everyone, and she may simply have misunderstood his attentions. After all, she had not spent much time with young adults her own age, ever, so she was lacking the general social cues that should direct her into understanding interest in a manner of friendship or interest in a romantic approach. For now, she would simply have to observe - him and herself.

Tatsumi-kun seemed torn between trying to be a friend and being as far away as he possibly could. The rift she had caused with her repeated bickering must have been a gulch. Another matter to address, yet again. Until he could fully accept her apology, she simply could not try to befriend the boy.

And she would need him soon. She needed backup, support from the group, if she were to convince Narukami that they needed to prepare better, work together on clues, explore the TV world better, map out more locations, perhaps...

She looked up and saw a girl carrying a traditional oiled wagashi-paper umbrella approach from the direction of the bus station. After a moment she recognized the red cardigan and tipped her hat at the older girl. "Amagi-senpai."

"I thought that was you, Naoto-kun! We take the same bus, at least for a few stops." She lifted her umbrella slightly towards the bus stop. "Sadly, it seems to have run early, or been very delayed."

"Oh, how unfortunate. Well, we can pass the time together until the next one arrives."

"That sounds nice." Her senpai smiled warmly. "What would you like to do? We could stop by Marukyu-"

"Ah, no, I believe Rise-san works today, and she always forces some of her ... spicy creations on me." She winced. "I do not believe my stomach could handle this today."

"Oh," the older girl nodded gently, "I know just how you feel. She likes to really go to town on the chili-oil." She giggled briefly behind one hand. "Well, how about the book store? I wanted to pick up something about job licenses, anyhow."

"Yes, let's." They turned and started crossing the street near the gas station. "Which job license are you aiming for, senpai?"

"I... am not absolutely sure. But maybe... you know, something in line with the family work..." She trailed off and her thoughts seemed to turn inwards.

Naoto lifted an eyebrow and studied her upperclassman. Of course, keeping the family tradition going was an honourable calling. She had never considered getting a job license herself, simply thinking her training with her Grampa would cover these things... but now that Amagi-san brought it up...

"Senpai? Do you have recommendations on a publisher?"

"Mhm, sorry, Naoto-kun?" Amagi blinked and looked back at her _kōhai_.

"If you have read more than one book on job licenses, was there one work that stood out to you? Your comments just struck me as true, maybe I should investigate courses and further training myself. Maybe I can further my family name if I add to the base knowledge I am gaining through case work."

The girl turned her head, tucking a strand of her long, silky black hair behind her ear in a very gentle motion. _Elegance - thy name is Amagi._ "Well... nothing stood out. But, Naoto-kun, would university not be a better move for you?" They stopped outside the book store. "After all, all that crime stuff... maybe you could study law? That would be useful?"

"Hmmm," Naoto hummed, "you raise a valid point. This of course would also require I continue my formal education; finish high school exams."

"Not something you need to worry over, I’m sure, you seem to be doing well in class, if what Kanji-kun and Rise-chan say is true."

Tucking on her caps' screen, Naoto hunched her shoulders. "We-We should go inside, if we wish to browse some books before our bus arrives."

The younger girl quickly ducked inside, leaving her folded umbrella in the stand by the door, trying hard to ignore the light giggle behind her.

Her senpai moved past her, deeper into the store, looking for one of the attendants.

She had only recently browsed the collection of crime and suspense the store had to offer, which lead her to skip that section and turn towards the new releases. Not a whole lot caught her attention. Some new western authors' books, a few Japanese ones. A special section about local history was fronted by a book written by a local woman about the history of the local public bath houses, the last of which had fallen into disrepair some five years ago.

Naoto was not sure how long they had been at the store, when Amagi appeared at her side. "Shall we go back? Our bus is due in about ten minutes."

The junior Shirogane simply nodded, somewhat disappointed that she had not found anything new for herself. Then again, she had homework to do, maybe check on her emails. She could fill her evenings without the need for a book.

They chatted lightly and when their bus arrived, Yukiko turned to her school bag, produced a pen and pulled out the paper bag of something she bought in the book store.

Not wanting to pry, Naoto turned to gaze out of the window. As in general, she did not need to chat with someone to simply fill idle time. She watched the streets pass in the rain, enjoying how the mixture of rain on the outside and condensation on the inside turned everything into colourful patterns.

"Naoto-kun?"

"Yes, senpai?" She kept gaze turned away.

"You said something, when we... you know... when we all found you..."

The junior Shirogane turned, seeing the thoughtful eyes of her senpai upon her. "Yes?"

"I think it was something along the lines of... ah, what was it... I think: My gender is wrong if I want to be a detective and the police is full of guys who don't take women seriously."

The blue-haired girl swallowed and nodded. Quietly she added, "An apt summary, yes."

Amagi nodded, still looking thoughtful. "I thought that was very sad. That you would want to hide a part of who you are, simply because you fear how others will think of you. So… I got you this." She held out the paper bag. "I don't know when your birthday is, and I did not want to wait. I thought this might be nice, since you like reading. And I had a feeling you did not know the author."

Puzzled, Naoto reached inside the bag and pulled out the book. It was a novel by Englishwoman Agatha Christie. "I know of the author... she was an abormality, in her day and age, to write investigative fiction as a woman." Reading the title she frowned. "I cannot recall ever having read this, however. A lesser-known work?"

"I don't know. I simply asked the book store owner for help in finding a book about a smart woman detective, He helped me order the book a few weeks ago." Amagi-senpai laughed lightly, "This is what she found for me. I hope it's good."

The younger girl stared at the book in her hands and slipped it back into the paper bag. "You needn't have bought me a book, senpai. I do not currently have the time to read. Maybe you should take it back for a refund." She held out the bag to the long-haired girl.

"Can't." She smiled. "I wrote into it." She looked up and jumped off her seat, hitting the stop-button. "Oh, nearly missed my stop! Have a good night, Naoto-kun!"

"But w-wait!" She tried to call to her senpai, but the girl dashed to the back of the bus and exited with a happy little wave.

 

* * *

 

Arriving at home, Naoto settled in with some tea and finished her homework in no time at all.

By the time she went to bed, she had almost forgotten to book she had tossed into her sheets when she had walked in. Curiosity got the better of her and she picked it back up. The English book cover showed her a man slumped over a very formal-looking, western-style writing desk.

" 'The Murder at the Vicarage'... Hm."

Naoto flipped open her phone and looked up the term _Vicarage_. "Ah, from the Christian denominations… the rank _Vicar_..." She kept reading for a bit, then turned back to the book, opening the first, blank page. In very precise handwriting, her senpai had added this:

 

> Naoto-kun,
> 
> I think I can understand how hard it is to try and do the best you can for the family tradition. I myself face some thoughts and struggles with these circumstances. But you seem like you want to be the best detective you can be. The book store owner said that this book is about a woman detective who is being looked down on by the police, while she solved crimes they could not solve on their own. Maybe it can inspire you.
> 
> Yukiko Amagi, 2011

 

The Junior Shirogane, the true Detective Prince, sighed softly and put the book on the bedside table. Considering the time and climate this book had been written in, women were considered less than they were even in modern Japan. Not only that, this was written by a woman herself. She did not expect to find any answers in this book, or indeed find a solution to her own struggles.

Pulling out her most recent folder of case files sent from home, Naoto settled into bed for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've not mentioned them for a while, but many thanks to my proof-reader and editor zero-damage over on reddit (sadly no relation with the author of Shortest Distance - that was how we first talked, me being a hopeful little puppy).  
> And also thanks to ZD for nudging me to even start publishing this - you guys owe them. ^^


	35. Chapter Thirty-Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Restless, Naoto tries to find out why thoughts of Kanji Tatsumi cause her such difficulties. Not only are the others in the investigation team wasting time, she feels she herself is as well. Addressing the matter is simply, of course - all she needs to do is find the boy and confront him. Besides, she still needs to find time for training, find out details of what is keeping him busy outside of school - a general investigation may be in order! Even if that shows her a side of his she had maybe not fully expected to find.

**October 23rd, 2011**

 

Naoto stared at her phone. She had been waiting for a reply from Yu-senpai for an hour now. The latest message in the exchange was her own. She flipped her phone open once more and gazed at the text messages under her desk.

 

> TRAINING TODAY? Y/N

 

It was nearly eleven now, and the sun was nearing its zenith. Her morning had been filled with trying to not think about all the time she was wasting. She had started to draft another email to Grampa and one to tentatively feel if Dojima would speak about the progress the force had made, maybe even humble herself and offer to help from behind the scenes...

But after her homework was well and truly finished, with a three-page report turning into five pages, no reply from Yu-senpai and her other means of entertainment being well and fully tapped, she sighed and rose from her seat, ready to leave the school grounds.

Why was there no sense of urgency with these teens? Sure, most of her peers were fickle and would dash from attraction or entertainment to whiling away time - but so far, none of the teens she had fallen in with appeared to share this behaviour.

Why was it then, she wondered while passing out through the front gates, that they all seemed to sit back and wait? Why did they not assign tasks, use their numbers to canvas the streets discreetly? Some of them worked in places where idle talk was almost a currency in its own right, so why had they not used that yet? Surely someone had at least thought of it. Surely!

_theyarehavingfunweshouldhavemorefun_

She sighed.  _'Fun, Sukuna-Hikona?'_

_yesfungooutsideplaydiscoverenjoy!_

_'You sound like a parent trying to dismiss a bored child outside the house.'_

_ijustwanttoplay_  He sounded almost sulky at that.

 _'So you feel unproductive as well?'_ An interesting thought. Was her Persona with her on the annoyances of being at an impasse?

No reply came. As much as she had tried to understand how and when he would show himself, she seemed unable to summon his conversation at will. Only in the 'TV World' did their connection seem to be strong enough for prolonged conversations.

His injection had some small merit, she conceded to herself as she idly kicked a rock on the patch. She could try to use this time to work on building these bonds she boasted to her Grampa about. Maybe even find the nerve to discuss her offer with Tatsumi, to try and find out of their Personae would be able to work together.

An uneasy feeling hit her stomach the moment she thought of him. Naoto paused, one foot suspended in the air. She sighed and shook her head.  _Foolish nonsense_. The boy had, in the past, offered his friendship. If she had made him rethink that offer, it would be up to her to re-establish that bond. This was much like returning to an eye witness and coaxing more cooperation from them. Nothing new. Nothing to worry over.

She changed direction and decided to find him in person. Text, while more direct, could be misconstrued and she felt she would have a better handle on the situation if she were to hold his gaze when they talked.

With the case on hold and school work essentially on pause for an entire week, she could - and should - use this time to assure she would be well and truly integrated into Tatsumis' social circle. She knew he had one. She had seen him with Kujikawa numerous times and believed that he was also close to their senpai, especially Amagi and Narukami.

Perhaps re-engaging him as an ally was a good idea overall. With the case progressing this slowly, she might be able to find a lever with others in the group. Create a closed front that would push Narukami into take more action. If nothing else, she could  _encourage_  him to work on this a bit more professionally. And with her own skills, she would make sure they worked as efficiently as any team she ever lead in a criminal investigation.

By the time she reached Tatsumi Textiles some fifteen minutes later, she had already mapped out Inaba for a city-wide stake-out; planned how to equip the teens of the Investigation Team with code sheets and note books and was ready to out-sleuth the local police.

Her mood and the plans she had, dropped swiftly while speaking to Mrs. Tatsumi.

"He was up late, finishing something he kept as a great secret," she chuckled. "He's just now in the age where he is bound to try and catch the attention of a cute girl or two, so I didn’t want to embarrass him and ask for more details." Her amusement faded. "You look worried, Naoto-kun. Is there a problem?"

"No, madam, no problem," she lied swiftly, ignoring the sharp pang of...  _something_ in her gut. "Do you think he went out on a date then?"

"Well, I cannot think of a lot of things he would try to keep from me like this. And I peered into his room the other day." She dropped her voice and said, with a huge smile, “He is working on a number of things. Whatever it is, he gets defensive over it, so it must be something cute."

Naoto nodded, unsure why this would worry her so much. She knew of him and Kujikawa, had seen them interact, had endured her testing. Nothing about this should be a surprise to her. And still...

"Thank you. I am sorry to impose on you."

"Not at all, child. I'll let him know you came looking for him."

"No!" Naoto had blurted it without a thought, her mind now racing to find a good way to explain the outburst. "He-He... ah... He would be embarrassed if he thought I am on to his secret."

"Oh, of course. Well, then, you were never here." She smiled. "But it is always nice to see such a well-cultured young man here. Please do stop by again. You are such a good influence on Kanji-chan."

Naoto had prepared to turn and walk away, but this stopped her. "I... I am?"

Kanji's mother nodded. "In the last few weeks, he seems to strive to behave better. He is kinder to me, more thoughtful. He also gets along better with Yukiko-chan and Rise-chan. I know their families, so it is wonderful to see him interact well with those two. And, of course, he speaks highly of you."

If the spark jolt earlier had been unpleasant, then the warm flutter now was even stranger to Naoto. "H-He speaks of me?" Her hand pulled her cap down without hesitation, covering her as she half-turned.

"Frequently. He thinks highly of you. He mentioned when you had a fight and he was unsure on how to make up after. He was worried about that your fight meant. It makes me so happy that you came to speak to him. That must mean you two are going to remain friends?"

"I would very much enjoy a continued friendship with your son", the junior detective mumbled softly, not noticing her practiced speech slipping.

"Then, by all means, stop by more often. I'll see you soon, yes?"

"Yes... of course..."

With a smile, the door closed in front of her, leaving Naoto with a lot of new information to digest.

Bringing her mind to something she had avoided all say so far - food.

Under the impression that Kanji had taken Rise out for a date and unable to fully stem her own curiosity, she decided to check the local eateries.

The space outside  _Souzai Daigaku_  was empty and she dismissed it quickly. Then she poked her head into Aiya next door and found few patrons - none of them school-aged.

Curious now, she continued down the road. Her own appetite kept trying to bring her back to Aiya and her sense of self-preservation reminded her of the spicy tofu sold at _Marukyu_ , but she could not stop herself from entering.

And very much walked straight into Rise-san.

"Oh, hey, Naoto! You never visit, what's up? Oh, did you come shopping? We have a few specials on Sundays; would you like to try some of our herb-wrapped tofu?"

The steam of words washed over her and pulled her into the store as surely as the backdraft of a tidal wave. "Ah, Rise-san, I-I am not equipped to do much cooking at home, so-"

"Oh, right, you live in an apartment! That's so cool! Okay, something simple then! Let's see, I think we also have a nice batch of  _ganmodoki_ , Yosuke-senpai said it's the best he ever had, and I make a spicy version, too!"

Cringing at the memory of what Rise considered 'mild', Naoto did not wish to explore what 'spicy' was in her books. "Actually, I will be out till late and cannot refrigerate what I would buy right now. I was wondering, however, have you seen Tatsumi today?"

The retired idol stopped and peered over her shoulder. "Kanji-kun?"

"Yes,  _Kanji_ - _kun_. I had been meaning to talk to him on a matter regarding training in the TV World," Naoto added smoothly.

"Oh. Well, he would be good to have if you can convince Yu-senpai to do some training with you. Hmmm, have I seen him today?" She put one hand on her hip and one finger to her lip. The pose seemed studied and too perfect. "Hmhmhm. No, sorry, not seen him since school. I could try calling him? Oh, no, I can't, I left my phone upstairs. But if it's important, I think everyone has-"

"I do have his number. I had hoped to find him in person."

"Oh. Well, sorry I can't help. You sure you don't want any tofu? It's good for you!"

"Well...” The detective let her eyes wander over the offered spread. “Maybe some of your fried tofu? Amagi-san seems quite taken with it. That could keep without being chilled for a few hours, correct?"

"You bet! And, yeah, that'll keep even if you can only pop it in the fridge later tonight. But you need to eat it in the next three days, okay? Here, I'll give you some extra to snack on!"

Naoto managed to pull the conversation towards school work for a while, reminding Rise about the paper which was due soon and managed to excuse herself shortly thereafter.

As she left the shop and started to slowly head towards the flood plains, she investigated the tofu she had just acquired. Fried it was, but also not just plain tofu. Some herbs and mushrooms were in the mixture, giving the pieces a full, well-rounded flavour and added texture. Naoto found herself eating four pieces before she slipped the package into her jacket's pocket and returned her focus to her surroundings.

Her investigative nature resumed its work, calling her thoughts back into order.

She was looking for Tatsumi. Kanji was still her best bet at friendship, she was certain. She had no idea how to even envision a possible friendship with her senpai, and Rise Kujikawa was… she was… well. They did not click. Could not possibly click.

Naoto was convinced she needed to trace the young Tatsumi down in person, if she was to ensure their friendship would be on a very solid, very real foundation.

And she needed to investigate in detail why thoughts of him and thoughts connected to him started causing her to have physical reactions.

Tatsumi-san was under the impression her son was interested in a girl. She also suspected him to be on a date today.

While she had not stated when he had left, the early hour had indicated a luncheon date. However, his most likely target of affection, Rise Kujikawa, was working right now. _Intriguing._

Her feet had carried her all the way to the gazebo by the floodplains. Slowly Naoto cast about, but she saw no one having a picnic or appearing to be romantically engaged.

The only other girl towards Naoto had faint recollections of interest was Amagi-senpai. Who, if memory served her, worked on weekends and evenings in her family's  _ryokan_. _Unless... unless she had taken the day off?_

Formulating and re-formulating different hypotheses, the junior Shirogane made her way back across town, absent-mindedly munching on another piece of fried tofu.

Inaba did not have that much to offer, so the last easily accessible place she could think of was her next targeted location. The hill overlooking town. She had seen Yu-senpai up there once with a girl, a very assertive-looking young woman, she had had decided she liked the location for the tall trees all around that invited climbing. If she was lucky, the date was there and she could observe Tatsumi and gather more intel. And if he was not present, well, climbing a tree always cleared her head nicely.

If she had not been as distracted, Naoto would have realised that she was being followed at a distance much sooner. As it were, she spun the moment she noticed and saw a young boy skip along the path some little ways back.

The Shirogane protégée felt... playful. She blamed the feeling purely on Sukuna-kun, but allowed the feeling to play out by slipping off the path and climb the wooded side of the hill. slipping from tree to tree, she reached the top quite a bit ahead of the boy. And just in time to notice a rather nervous Kanji Tatsumi near the shelter. Looking around, there was no one beside him at this time.

Naoto eyed the surrounding area and picked a path which allowed her to slip closer but remain hidden. Her playful side insisted it was an unwilling hide-and-seek. Her professional side demanded it being called shadowing a suspect. And a tiny, very new voice in the forming chorus informed her, that she was spying on the boy she wanted to befriend. This last voice was smothered by the time she slipped behind a tree and scaled it up a few branches to hide above eye level.

As she watched him, Naoto thought he looked almost miserable. He seemed to rub his hands near-constantly, he jumped at small noises - something she tested by first breaking a dry branch, then throwing it into some bushes - and while only barely audible, he was muttering to himself. Twice she watched him stride under the pagoda, re-appear with a large sports bag, then hesitate a few steps away and marching himself back again.

And then the boy from earlier showed up, waved excitedly, and raced closer.

Naoto, no longer able to see, slid down the tree a bit. The spot had been a wonderful observation point so far, but now the two boys walked away, back to the roofed picnic area. Cursing her dumb luck, Naoto climbed down fully, took off her cap, and peered around the tree. She could not hear the boys speak clearly, but something seemed amiss for the tall teen.

As she watched, Kanji unzipped the bag she had previously seen and pulled out a small object, pushing it into the child's hands.

There seems to be a small argument, as the boy lifted the item - a stuffed bear? - up to the tall teen. There was a further exchange, Tatsumi's shoulders slumped, he turned to the bag and produced another item, also handing it over.

What exactly was she watching? An exchange of sorts? What would loud, brash Kanji Tatsumi give a child that would make him almost cower nervously?

The discussion became lively once again and the thought she heard the wind carry a faint '-d you get these?' towards her. Clearly an exchange. Clearly something surprising. And clearly the child was either a recipient or a courier of some kind. Was she witnessing a crime? The rumours of Tatsumi being involved in gangs surfaced to the forefront of her mind and Naoto frowned. She had not believed it last summer. She could still not believe it. Kanji was... well.

He was imposing. He had an actual flicker of temperament. He could be intimidating and somewhat rough. But criminal? Real, true crime? No. His home had a loving parent, he had friends and made new friends in the last half year. Even if he had been involved in gang activities, his recent change of social support would have weeded this out. But then what was it?

The boy got more excited and in a higher pitch squeaked, "Okay! I can come back and see you, right? Once I figure out what she wants?"

The teen nodded, but she heard no reply.

The boy seemed pleased, nodded, made excited gestures and darted away. Tatsumi nodded again and waved goodbye.

Maybe... what she had just been witnessing was not a currier for any illicit activity. Maybe what she had seen right now was the teens' D'Artagnan. His own currier of romance, finding out how to win the affections of...

She was missing out on her chance. She could follow the boy and see where he runs to.

Or...

Naoto pushed herself away from the tree and took quick, deliberate steps towards her school mate. She had wanted to find him for the last two hours. She would do so now.

He noticed her and froze.

"Kanji-kun. Please explain what just transpired."

"N-N-Naoto! S'up?" he squeaked as a way of answering.

"Nothing  _is up_. Why were you speaking with that boy?" She used everything she could. Standing tall, cap lowered, head tilted so he could barely see her eyes. She would have the truth. And this answer could also give an indication of their future collaboration was even an option.

"No reason! N-no reason at all. S'all good, just great."

"Why were you speaking with that boy?" she repeated. If she was honest with herself, it may not even have mattered that much. It could be fairly innocent. But…  _I just want to know._

He hesitated, his eyes darting all around them, growing more and more nervous. His next reply would be a lie, clearly. She decided to cut him off before he wasted their time with it. "You took two items from your bag and gave them to him. They were brightly coloured." Naoto clasped her hands behind her back, smoothly entering her practiced lecturing pose. "Toy bears, I believe."

Instead of pushing him into a corner, however, she seemed to put his back up. "Dammit, they weren't bears, they-“ He stopped and his eyes widened. “Wait, you were spying on me?"

Well. This was much more observant of him than she really expected. She had been, technically, spying on him… but then again, she had investigated him. Still was!

The junior Shirogane glared and cursed the blush she felt creeping in. Her voice, however, remained firm. "Of course not. I was merely  _observing._ "

"From behind a tree?" Kanji snapped. "And, and how'd you even know I was here? Ya following me?"

"No!” That wasn’t it. That wasn’t it at all! “I-I simply happened to be-“ No. She closed her eyes and took a breath. He was pushing her into his conversation, but this wasn’t about him. Well. It  _was_ , but not like  _that_. “Do  _not_  deflect the question, Kanji-kun. Why did you give toy bears to that boy?"

The young tailor crossed his arms and glared at the ground. "Whatever. Was two bunnies. Not bears."

She remained firm… and, sadly, suspicious.  _Why would that be the important part of her observation?_  "Very well. Bunnies. And why were you giving them to him?"

He lifted his gaze at her, and almost looked hurt. "Nothing bad, alright? It, it's…" The boy trailed off, then grunted and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, look. His friend. He lost her toy bunny in the river and he was cut up about it, so I helped him out."

Nothing about him seemed insincere. She kept her gaze on him, trying to will him into discomfort; trying to make him retract the statement. But everything inside of her wanted him to actually be truthful. To not be involved in anything criminal. And if this also lead down the path to him not being here for a date…. Well.

"B-but it was all Senpai's fault. He made me do it."

She observed his eyes as he continued. He still seemed nervous and something about his body language still mentioned dishonesty. He still needed to say something more.

Then he suddenly drew himself up and uncrossed his arms. He leaned forward and stared into her eyes. "Fine! It, it was my stupid idea, alright?" he snapped, jabbing his thumb toward his chest. "Senpai, he just backed me up an' helped me work up the guts to do it, no matter how dumb it was, so stop frickin' staring at me!"

She felt the frown etch itself into her brow. "I was not staring," she said flatly. "I was waiting for you to finish."

"Oh.  _Oh_." He backed down immediately – and part of Naoto felt bad for pushing him this hard. "S-sorry, man. Didn't mean ta get riled up."

Naoto slowly settled her hand on her hip and sized up the boy. The burst of anger, followed by the sudden embarrassment. Seemingly he had not meant to get this angry at her – but maybe he simply had been stressed by being pressed so. Right now, he tried to watch her without looking at her.

 _Tch. I’ve pressed him too hard again…_  She tried to relax her stance and let her hand run off her hip.  _Find common ground, Shirogane._  Showing an interest in his hobbies should break up the situation. "The dolls.” She gazed away, then snapped her head back. “Do you have any more?"

He sighed. "Y-yeah. One. B-but I ain't-"

"May I see it?" This would be her chance to find common ground, or at least talk about his interests. She would not let this chance pass without capitalizing on it.

Kanji stared back at her for a few, long seconds… then reached inside the bag sitting on the table and pulled a pale blue stuffed animal. It seemed to be dressed as a painter. "There," he mumbled, shoving it toward her.

Naoto leaned closer to inspect the doll - gaze traveling over the little felt beret, the fine hairs on the brush and the paint-splattered shirt. "This is very elaborate." She lifted her hand to reach out to the toy, but stopped herself. She looked up at the tall teen. "Who made it?"

For nearly a minute, emotion played over his face. The answer was really quite clear – his mother had made this, surely, she has the experience and the skill as a seamstress. And nothing of this quality was manufactured. Finally, he lifted a hand, rubbed the back of his head and muttered "I-I did. Made 'em.”

She glanced up at him, eyebrows raised. "Oh."

Not much more than that managed to slip past her lips. Her eyes wandered back to the detail-laden soft toy and this time, she did pick it up. She ran her fingertips over the seams, studied the paint brush, studied the shirt.

"Whassat mean?" he snapped, jerking the it away from her and stuffing the doll back in the bag. "Ya got a problem with that?"

She looked at her now-empty hand, then up at him. "No. Why would I?"

"You-! You said 'oh'. And y-you know." He gestured at himself, then at the hidden bunny. "Because."

Naoto followed his movements, looking from his face to the bag and back again. Then she shook her head. "I'm afraid I do not follow."

"Whatever," he muttered. "Just don't tell nobody, yeah?" He paused. "Uh. Anybody, I mean. Don't tell anybody."

Naoto nodded her head with crisp approval. Clearly he was learning. "Correct. And I will not. I am not sure why I would to begin with." She was not sure why, but he wished this to be a secret. A good chance. Keeping a confidantes’ secret would show he can trust her with other things in the future.

"Th-thanks. And, uh, definitely don't mention it to Rise. Can't keep secrets."

She raised her eyebrows at him, surprised. He seemed to not think highly of Kujikawa. Adding this to some other information gathered today…  _I need to re-investigate my assumption about their relationship…_

"So, uh, why're you here?"

She flinched and gazed to one side. "Walking." A weak answer, she knew. But a quick one, and less embarrassing than the truth: She had been so focused on these toys, that she forgot she had to bring up something else.

"And then you hid behind a tree?"

"Yes." Her gaze was still firmly turned away from him. He had offered some honesty. Some weakness. She felt now it was her own turn. "After school. I don't-I… I often go to the food court. Occasionally I come here, as I did today." Her gaze remained fixed on the area beyond the fence. "I saw you waiting and for someone and then that boy arrived, so I decided I would..." No, that wasn’t the right answer… at all. She trailed off and frowned.

"Spy on me?" he filled in.

She pulled herself up and whipped her head around, looking up at him. "As I said, I was  _observing_." She looked down, one hand moving to rest on her hip.

Still not the right answer. And she needed to make up for lost ground.  _Never let the one being questioned be the one to take control of the questions._  Really basic investigative work, things Grampa had taught her before she was even considered of school age, and she was letting him take the lead?

She closed her eyes for a moment and gathered her own momentum. She could not directly turn and put herself into the weak state of issuing a request. Not when he had been driving her along. She lifted her head and regarded the tall boy through narrowed eyes.

"You,” she nearly barked, “How do you spend your evenings?"

He blinked at her, clearly off-balance from the topic change. "I-I dunno. Work in the shop. Get dragged ‘round Junes by Rise, maybe go hang with Yu-senpai." He hesitated. "And I sew stuff." That last bit was mumbled softly, but she still caught it.

"Yes, I suppose you must." She tucked her cap, failing to notice her foot tapping. Rise-san again. She had tried to ignore the dull feeling of maybe being in the way when it came to her and him, but... "And Rise-san has previously stated that you and her associate outside of school." She crossed her arms.

"Uh... I guess. Her grandma's shop ain't far and she hates walking to school by herself. Plus, she's always bugging me on weekends, I think she gets bored."

Naoto nodded. Chances were that he had already found a way to bind himself to someone. Maybe their Personae were in sync already. She could easily see his hulking Persona boosting the efficiency of the support Kujikawa’s gave. Or maybe give him an edge in fighting when they linked up. Maybe not all such links would come with an elaborate performance?

No sense in dwelling on it then. "Do you spend much time with Narukami-senpai?"

He blinked and shrugged. "Just hang out sometimes.” He paused, shifted. “You? D’ya ever talk to him?"

"Not on a personal level." She still kept her eyes to the ground, pondering. "I understand he's close to the rest of the team." She did not add to that that he was also very confusing to her. Or how she felt he may have been trying to flirt with her. Or how she had absolutely no time for … for…  _Teenaged boys and their interests._

"Yeah, he looks after us.” The boy paused again. Fidgeted. Turned to face her, or so his body moved. “Uh, listen … there something wrong?" Another pause "You okay?"

"The case. We should be focusing our energies on that, particularly now that exams are over." Her jaw tightened. She had not meant to just burst out with her thoughts like that, but done was done. "Yet we haven't entered the television in weeks  _or_  made any move to catch the killer." She did not count the tiny excursions she had gotten to ‘find out how stuff works’. She had not learned much from it, aside the fact that she could use some more time on the shooting range. But the case had not progressed at all.

"Eh, you heard Senpai. We gotta wait."

"But that's-“ Her head snapped up and she saw the boy looking down at her. Not as far away as he could be, he seemed to hunch himself to be smaller whenever he was around her. The expression on his face was simply mild confusion mixed with a concern that she refuted for herself. She turned her head away. “There are  _other_  things we can do. The others, even Narukami-senpai- they all spend their time-" She paused and took a deep breath, the fingers on her hip clenching into a fist. "I worked on the case for the entire summer, Kanji-kun, and at no point did I distract myself with  _trivialities_. Everything had meaning, everything had a purpose." She growled softly. “And if we lack something right now, it is purpose.”

"Look, Naoto… It ain't all trivial. People gotta do their own thing too, or they go nuts."

Even before he'd finished speaking, Naoto was already shaking her head. "I do not have that luxury. I should-  _we_  should remain focused. The killer may seek out another victim, and the letter proves he knows who we are. Yet here we are, no sense of urgency, no initiative, no objective in mind."

"But there's other stuff. School, y'know. Home." He rolled his shoulders, seemingly unsure of himself. "Culture festival's coming up, like Chie-senpai said."

"An irrelevant activity," Naoto muttered.

She wasn't listening. She'd already made up her mind and Kanji couldn't think of any more ways to tell her she had it all wrong. "You- look, ya gotta talk to Yu-senpai. I can't change what we do." He shrugged uneasily. "I just hit stuff, man."

Something in his voice caught her and pulled her forward through her frustrations. She looked up at him now, trying to actually see him. He looked… Uneasy. No, not uneasy. Unhappy. Wounded. Self-deprived.

As she sized him up, two things pushed into her mind. The first being being ‘ _Just hit stuff? Please. You have a level of emotional intelligence I find lacking in most of our peers_.’ – but complimenting might not be a good idea due to another thought that entered her mind almost on top of that one.

_My apology was not enough. He is still upset with me._

"Kanji-kun. Are you-" She paused for several seconds, fingers playing over the collar of her shirt subconsciously. Her gaze shifted, trying to not make eye contact. She had to fix it. "Tell me, have I caused you offense in some manner?"

Kanji frowned down at her. "Uh...what?"

"My presence still seems to cause you discomfort."  _Own your missteps, Shirogane._  She straightened and clasped both hands behind her back before meeting his eyes again. "I upset you previously. Was my apology inadequate?"

"No, no!” His hands jerked up and he waved both hands back and forth swiftly. “S'all okay, no worries." His face twitched and he forced a very unconvincing smile. Looking lost for a moment, the smile frozen, he cast for a new topic. "Think I'm gonna do better in the exams."

"Oh. Well, that's good."

The sudden departure from the previous subjects made it clear he would rather not continue the discussions. Which mean two things. His hesitation on exploring the TV world was fairly clear. He would not explore with her, no matter what she might try to do to convince him. The other was that he brushed away her offered apologies and he felt they were in good standing. For now, this would suffice.

She gave him a crisp nod. "Well. I should return home. It is getting late."

Kanji glanced up at the sky. "Yeah. Guess so."

"Do you want-" The junior Shirogane’s hand moved and Naoto froze. As if she had not even actively directed her arm to move, she had very nearly raised her hand to rest it against his arm. Shocked at the uninvited familiarity of her gesture, she halted, then yanked her hand back down. Not only that, the words on her tongue had nearly spilled ‘Do you want to go with me?’ – not only terribly easy to misunderstand, given the circumstances, it was also much too familiar, considering their standing as mere acquaintances. "Well. Obviously you don't need an umbrella this time. But it would be sensible to walk together, since it's getting dark."

"Right. Yeah. Okay."

Again he seemed uneasy, but he had not confirmed, a number of times, that they were in good standing. She would not offer another apology.

Again they walked in silence. Naoto wondered again if she could maybe bring up the topic of entering the TV. Not only was she poorly prepared for what awaited her in combat, she also wanted to find a way to bring up a possible partnership again. Her hesitation over his possible link with Kujikawa, however, kept her from breaching the matter to him.

So. Another topic. Something that would more put him at ease. Something he enjoyed. Her eyes travelled "The stitching on the rabbit. It's very precise."

"Uh, thanks. Y-you like sewing?"

"Of course not," she quickly replied, correcting any possibly misconception about her question, "but the doll was excellent. Professional." He clearly had either a talent for the work, or his upbringing gave him a considerable advantage. She glanced up at him and raised her eyebrows. "You ought to attend sewing club rather than looking through the window."

He shrugged, seemingly uncomfortable at her suggestion. "Nah. Wouldn't work. People, you know how they are, right?" He swept his hand from his head to his waist, taking in the tattoo, the piercings, the scar. "They see this, they already got an idea in their heads."

For a few moments she tried to follow what he implied. He seemed under the impression that he should not be considered… No. Not just ‘him’ but ‘someone like him’. Her eyebrows shot up higher, her eyes wide. "Is  _that_  what you meant before? About having a problem with the dolls?"

"Yeah," Kanji muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. "'s why they're a secret."

Naoto paused, gaze fixed back on the path, then shook her head. "They shouldn't be," she told him. He had no reply for her, so she pressed on. “You have a talent, or maybe a finely honed skill, Kanji-kun. You should not need to feel that you have to hide it.” She frowned at the ground before them as they walked. “No one should.”

They talked about random topics the rest of the way, until they parted ways, leaving Naoto feeling like she kept missing chances in these last few weeks.

She spent the rest of her way home trying to strategize. She needed to find ways to offer her friendship clearer. Avoid silences, as useful as they were when she needed him to speak. Provide him with a feeling of safety so he could feel safe in being more open with her.

Closing the door to her apartment, the junior Shirogane sat down in her living room and sketched out her new approach to Kanji Tatsumi.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> Goodness me. I nearly missed it, but earlier this week was the one-year anniversary of The Distance Formula!   
> I'm still very much enjoying working on it, still very much hoping that Zero-Damage/JackDawg comes back so I don't have to steal the finish of their story from them (and I want Burns without Cue finished *weeps*) and still keeping myself busy with other pieces.
> 
> Thanks for having fun with me, and I'll see you on the next chapter. :3


	36. Chapter Thirty-Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is only human nature to want what others have. Knowing the other team mates seem able to execute very powerful combined attacks, Naoto seeks ways to make these happen as well. The other side of the coin, however, also holds true, with those who want what the Detective Prince shows...

**October 24th, 2011**

 

The next morning found Naoto somewhat sleepier than normal, stumbling along the path leading to Yasogami High School.

Between working on methods to approach Kanji Tatsumi without being seemingly improper, too eager, or not forceful enough; mixed with how to best prepare for their next steps of the investigation... Suffice to say the girl had forgotten her class assignments last night. As a result, she spent a very hurried ten minutes stolen from her morning ‘breakfast’ to scribble down some possibly satisfying replies to the posed history questions. She knew the general idea of what happened, no thanks to their teacher, but thanks to her own studies a few weeks ago. If you end up stuck on a broken-down bus in the rain, your history book can be your best source of entertainment.

As such her mind was actually trying to catch up to waking up, since she had skipped her morning coffee and she only realized after she had passively listened for a few minutes already, that someone behind her was talking about her. Keeping her eyes carefully on the ground, she switched to try and actually overhear the girls walking behind her.

“…really not sure what Megumi is thinking. I mean, Shirogane isn’t a guy, right?”

“I really don’t know anymore. He’s never stopped wearing the boys’ uniform, he’s always hanging around Kujikawa and _she_ is always hanging off of him-“

“Oh, yeah, I noticed that! You think she has a thing for him?”

The blunette sighed and tucked her cap lower. On one hand – at least the rumours that she was male held up. The longer, the better. She really did not wish to deal with having to explain to the faculty about wearing the male uniform and similar. Also, she knew how female students were treated by some of the staff and especially by the other guys.

“Who knows. One day she hangs on Shirogane, the next on Tatsumi.”

“EW! Really? Tatsumi?!”

Naoto cocked an eyebrow and turned her head slightly, wanting to hear better. ‘ _Ew?_ ’ That Kujikawa and Tatsumi were a pair surely had been clear to the other girls as well by now? After all, she wasn't even coy or secretive about her invasion of his personal space, no matter how uncomfortable he seemed about it. He struck her as a more private person, someone who would... Naoto shook her head. She was unfocussed still.

She also had missed part of the conversation again.

"...an idol would fall so low!"

“Totally! Wait, I took a picture from last time. It was _so gross_! Hold on…. Here!”

“Show me, show me!” A pause. Then, “EEEW! Why would she do that? He’s so… so weird!”

“I know! And he’s totally rude. Can you imagine him trying to be a senpai next year?”

“Hah, _no_! Besides, he’s never going to be moved up; he'll never put the work into next year’s classes. I've seen that he’s failed nearly all tests this year. Always has a fit after, too.”

The junior detective faced forward again. So his grades were still failing? Even after all the coaching she had done? She slipped her hand under her jacket and reached for her note book to pen down a quick reminder - right beside the list of topics she could use if she were to approach the boy. She might even find an in to talk to him today already, if all worked out as she planned.

As she tucked the moleskin back into the breast pocket under her school jacket, she lifted her eyes to see the back of a grey-haired boy. ‘ _Perfect!’_

Naoto hurried along and caught up to Narukami. “Good morning, senpai.”

With his eyebrows lifted, he turned to face her. A smile quickly replaced the expression of surprise and he gave her a calm nod.

She leapt into the prepared opening for this talk. “I heard from Rise-san that it seems nearly everyone earned their scooter license over the summer. You may be interested to know that I acquired mine around the same time. Quite a coincidence, isn't it?”

A winning smile spread over his features and he nodded. “Let's go somewhere together.”

“Huh...?” Well. She had possibly not prepared fully for his flirty nature in all of this. Come to think of it, this had been the reply she should have been ready for. Naoto felt her feet nearly catch on themselves and attempted to pull herself back together. “Y-Yes, I wouldn't mind doing so, should the opportunity arise.” She nodded, smiling in return. “I'm confident in my cycling skills, so I doubt any trouble will arise _en route_.”

He laughed softly and nodded to a student they passed by. “I didn’t doubt you know how to handle yourself, Naoto. It'll be fun. We missed out by not hanging out before."

"Well, I was working on the case." She glanced sideways. "Speaking of that, you seem to not have gotten my recent messages regarding this matter."

"Oh, I got them."

She waited for a half dozen steps. "But?"

He sighed. "But, Naoto, we've all been busy. There is school. I have a few side jobs to help get an income for the money we spend when we gear up. Then there's Nanako, I am spending more of my evenings with her or my uncle."

The junior detective nodded. "All valid issues, yes. So how about if you were to appoint a Lieutenant?"

He stopped and gaped at her. "A _what_ now?"

The Shirogane protégée stopped as well. "A second-in command? A right hand? Someone who will take on the work of checking for clues and working on the case while you are busy." She stood and held his gaze. "I am not trying to be forward, but I did join the team to help carry some of the weight. If I can officiate matters-"

And this was when Yu Narukami broke out laughing. "Na-Naoto! We're not spending day and night hunting down the-" he caught himself and looked at some students walking past them. "Look," he said, lowering his voice again, "so far, we have found out everything we have by keeping our eyes open and checking things out when someone is taken. We got real close when Kanji and Rise were taken, and if we had known about you, I am sure we could have been lying in wait, ready to help you. You'll see, next time the Midnight Channel comes on, if it comes on again, we'll catch him."

They walked on, passing the school gates. "But then... what is your plan in catching them if the Midnight Channel stays silent?"

He held the door open for her and after some hesitation she entered, walking to her locker. They stood back to back and he just said over the din of the other students, "You'll see, Naoto, it'll all work out."

"Very well." She kicked off her shoes, yet again wishing her indoor shoes would give the comfort of added height as she slipped into them. "Thank you, senpai." She turned, but he had already left.

 

* * *

 

Naoto pulled her bento out and thoughtfully looked around her class room. No one of interest had remained and if she timed everything correctly, she would still be able to talk to Kanji Tatsumi in private. If she was _lucky_ , she could get him outside and have a frank conversation. Her hand slipped under her jacket to touch the moleskin notebook and she headed into the hallway to find the blonde.

Leaving the room, she felt a shift of attention at once. Several of her fellow students stared at her and she had to nearly look at the floor to avoid making eye contact with someone. Murmurs and whispers followed her as she walked along the hallway, trying to peer into the other rooms. So far, no sign of Tatsumi.

She turned, walking back towards the entrance, the voices still following her.

"Him?"

"Yeah!"

"But he only started here a few weeks ago?"

"He's just that good, man."

"I heard one of the other girls say-"

"Just look at that smug-"

"Too bad he never replied to my-"

"So dreamy _and_ smart!"

She glowered, staring straight ahead - and then realised that right in front of her was possibly the cause of the chatter. A group of students was clustered around the central notice board, anxiously scanning the lists and either cheering or flinching before walking away.

Naoto shifted her bento to her other hand and tried to casually walk up to the board. Before she got anywhere near it, a hand slapped on her shoulder.

"Nice going, Shirogane-kun!"

She closed her eyes and fought the impulse to shrug the hand away. "On which topic, Sonoda-senpai?" She turned and looked up at the third-year whose hand still held on to her.

"You're the talk of the entire first form and you haven’t seen yet? Heh, well, you're a bit of a _chibi_ still, you better hurry on up with that growth spurt or something." He grinned, then turned to just shove through the other students, pushing Naoto along in front of him. The blue-haired girl was jostled and shoved, as a result bumping into other students or stepping on feet. Before she could even get a word of apology out, the voice behind her growled, "Make some space, idiots, let the genius here see it!"

"Sonoda-senpai, _please_ , you are being-"

"Shut it, look, just _look_ at that, will ya!"

Naoto pushed up her cap a bit and tilted her head up. There, at the top of the first form, was her name, beside a perfect score. Of course the tests had been painfully simple. There was no need for her own work, everything was pure regurgitation of known facts. If anyone had paid an ounce of attention, they could do the same. Surprisingly, the next highest student, however, was in the high 80s, nowhere near her.

For a moment she hesitated, then her eyes started to run down the list. She first found Kujikawa, in the middle field... then Tatsumi, barely above the line that indicated students who had failed. But he had passed, and the junior Shirogane would take some credit for this.

"Man, if the girls weren't on to you before, they will totally attach themselves to you _now_ , Shirogane-kun!"

She mumbled thanks and tried to detach herself from him. Getting back out of the press of bodies without being pushed along was much harder, especially since Sonoda tried to block her physically. It took his buddies to call out to him from somewhere before he lost interest and left.

Naoto struggled free just in time to see two girls slip letters into her shoe box. With a groan, she turned to walk back to her own class room. Her plans to talk to Tatsumi now felt meaningless and not like something she would have control over, anyhow. Few things ruined her mood as much as _love confessions_. She wondered yet again if she could get the faculty to enact some form of punishment for littering of this nature.

But the relatively short way was enough to make her change her mind rather swiftly once more. She needed to be with her comrades in some form or another, if only to get away from the other students trying to talk to her about her test results.

As luck would have it, she found Kanji-kun just as she walked by his class room once more. He stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the windowsill, looking outside.

Being around him had started to bring along unwanted and hard to understand effects. It put tension into her core. She felt her stomach muscles tightening and felt the uneasy side effects of her body entering a fight-or-flight reaction. The quickening of her pulse. The small rush of adrenalin sending energy to her muscles.

She did not understand it. Rationally, there was nothing frightful about Kanji Tatsumi. While, yes, he was too tall, and she had seen him wear tight tank tops that revealed his well-defined muscles; she was also quite certain that she had nothing to truly fear when it came to him.

If his over-protective behaviour was any indication at all, then he was more likely to start a fight with someone giving her a perceived wrong look, than him ever going to confront her. Indeed, she clearly remembered making him stand down when she simply asserted herself towards him. Even when faced with an antagonist like Sonoda she could find herself at a disadvantage, but Tatsumi never once had put her into a situation which would make her feel anywhere near as uneasy.

An interesting thought, that. For another time.

Most annoyingly, Sukuna-Hikona chirped happily in her mind as she observed him. It _liked_ him, in a way she simply did not understand. But every time he was near, her persona contently settled down. Heated combat? It would return to her and rest in his presence, instead of trying to remain at her side. Class? It held a warm feeling of contentedness when he was around. Walking home in any kind of proximity? It would try to find an excuse to catch up to him or fall back.

Naoto had gotten used to its odd behaviour in that regard, and she had gotten better at catching it when it tried to influence her. It did not stop her persona from trying to be around him, though she had a feeling she might have accidentally started to train it to become less obvious in its manipulative efforts.

_I wonder if I could swap with him. I'd not reject a larger persona myself..._

A chirp of outrage, then what she could only call a feeling of sulkiness.

She rubbed her fingers against her palms a few times, frowning at the moisture; sighing at the way her stomach clenched as she set herself to walk up to him. _This is ridiculous. He is a valued member of the team and our collaboration might bring forth a new weapon in our fight against the shadows._ She might need to expose herself to his presence more frequently to overcome this foolishness.

Her resolve hardened, she whipped her hands to the small of her back, now clutching her bento with both hands, and walked to stand beside the teenaged not-all-that-delinquent. She quietly looked outside with him for a while, wondering just what he had been looking at. She saw nothing that caught her own interest, so she simply turned her head - tilted it and took a step to the side to not draw too much attention to their height difference. "Kanji-kun?"

He started most dramatically. "O-Oh! H-Hiya Naoto."

Between her taking a step to one side, and him all but jumping to the side, she no longer needed to crane her neck up to look at him.

"Congratulations on your exam results."

His face dropped into a frown. "Yer makin' fun of me?"

"What? No, not at all. I understand you worried about failing this group of exams. You had previously voiced this fear to others." She tucked her cap and gazed outside. "I had hoped working with you and Kujikawa would help matters a bit."

"Oh... OH!" He, too, now stared outside, rubbing his neck. "N-No, ya, like, really helped and stuff. I mean... hell, half the time I felt like I even knew what I was talkin' about, y'know?"

"Well, you must have, as a passing score requires fifty-five percent." She glanced sideways. "We should not lose momentum now. Perhaps further study sessions would be beneficial to you before the next exam week."

"Yeah, maybe, if I can find someone ta help."

This gave her pause. He had just dismissed her offer to help. Why? Had her help not shown value thus far? Of course, there had been some minor... points of friction, previously. And she possibly had to shoulder some blame for that.

Maybe this refusal now was his offer for her to back out? Or maybe it was his way of telling her that he would rather not study with her again?

Maybe the next step in her plan could help with this, too.

"Have you eaten lunch yet?" She despised needing pretence to speak to him, but their discussion would be somewhat delicate, so she would prefer to not lead it in a class room, especially not with the current attention on her.

His expression shifted from startled to blank to frightened. Finally, he started to blush and cleared his throat. "Uh, na, I wasn't feeling all that hungry..."

"Ah. Well, regardless, would you join me on the roof?" Seeing the results may have spoiled a few other appetites, she did not expect too many other students up there, and she could easily see if anyone were to approach them.

He stared blankly.

"You should bring yours along. Maybe the fresh air will increase the desire for your midday meal."

"Uh..."

"Bring your bento? You might feel hungry."

"Oh. Ah, yes, sure. I, eer, I have it right here." He helplessly pointed at his bento box, its cloth wrapping in warm pastels, prints of small stylized animals covering the cloth. Naoto felt the corners of her mouth quirk up.

"It is very droll. Well then, shall we go?" She turned to lead the way.

As they walked out of the class room and up the stairs, Naoto kept up a pleasant, meaningless conversation about their last course together and outlining the approximate test schedule for the coming months. Kanji had little to add to the conversation as a whole, but his presence and their chatter kept other students at bay.

Once she opened the door and turned to the left, she halted when she saw Chie-senpai sitting beside a small cat at the far end of the roof. Not approaching her now would be rude. And she knew about personas. Having her near surely was not as much of a problem. She also seemed to put Kanji-kun at ease, possibly because both of them were the brawlers in their little group.

Having formulated that plan, the detective nodded a greeting to her, then approached. She heard the door swing shut a few moments later, hoping that Kanji was following.

She stopped before her upperclassman and nodded to her. "Good afternoon, Chie-senpai. Are you enjoying some fresh air before your next class as well?"

"Hiya, guys! Ugh, Naoto-kun, you have no idea. If I could only dragon-kick that Kashiwagi. Just, you know, HWA-TAAA, right out the window!"

Naoto cocked an eyebrow. "I have a feeling that would be anything but beneficial to your continued academic career at Yasogami High, senpai."

The older girl smirked and leaned her chin on her fists. "You always know how to kill anyone's fun, Naoto." She turned and raised her hand in greeting. "Yo, Kanji-kun, how're you?"

"Hey Chie-senpai. Doing okay. Naoto asked me ta tag along."

" _Oh_?" Her head turned back to Naoto, eyebrows raised.

The young detective ignored the beginnings of a knowing smile. "Yes, I invited Kanji-kun to spend his lunch break with me. I have something I wanted to discuss with him."

"Oh! Am I in your way then?"

"Not at all, Chie-senpai," Naoto replied, ignoring the by now far-too-knowing smile. There was nothing _to_ know: It irritated her how everyone was being so interested in her affairs and jumped to conclusions like this. If she were to earnestly peruse any relationship, keeping it from their prying eyes would be the first thing to ensure. "As a matter of fact, you might be able to give me some insight as well."

"Insight?" she asked.

"Insight?" he echoed.

"Indeed. May we be seated, Chie-senpai?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, it's not exactly my roof you know." She chuckled and scooted over a bit, not that that was truly needed.

"Thank you." Naoto placed her store-bought bento down and sat. She turned a questioning glance at Kanji, who stood, shuffling his feet. "Would you prefer to remain standing, Kanji-kun?"

"I... ah, no."

After a moment of hesitation, and almost looking like he wanted to sit beside Naoto, he nearly dropped to the floor cross-legged, making up the third point of a triangle.

Naoto turned towards Chie. "I have heard that you and Yukiko have learned to execute a combined assault with your personas?"

"Oh, yeah, I call it the Twin Dragon!" Chie's face lit up and she punched the air in front of her. "Yukiko and I strike this really neat pose while we both summon, and then our personas join us and then they vanish only to be replaced with this really cool golden dragon that flies a slow circle around the shadows, while a cherry blossom made of crystal and fire slowly opens on top of it and then bam!"

"Bam?"

"Bam! Anything that remains standing is wiped out!"

Kanji chuckled. "It sounds so much cooler when you tell it like that, Chie-senpai. I've seen it twice now, and it does not look half as cool without you telling it."

"Hey now!"

Naoto picked up her chopsticks in folded hands, closed her eyes as she muttered thanks, and opened her food's lid. As she picked at the contents, she eyed Kanji. "You have seen it?"

"Yeah. It actually _does_ look kinda cool."

"Have you ever attempted it yourself?" She picked up some of her rice and popped it into her mouth with a bite of sweet omelette, before looking back down to the young man.

"Na. I tried, but Tomoe didn't want to make it happen. Tried to make me understand... something... like, not understanding them?"

Naoto nodded. "Kintoki-Doji also voiced similar concerns when I tried to work with him. And according to Sukuna-Hikona, a certain bond of friendship needs to be present."

Chie started to smirk.

Kanji eyed his still-closed bento box in his hands.

"I am proposing a partnership to you, Kanji-kun."

The silence was filled with the sound of her own chewing in her ears and not a single other sound for about a minute.

_hesniceimhappy_

_'You mentioned.'_

_weshouldspendmoretimewithhim_

_'That is the idea. If he agrees.'_

_pleasesayyespleassayyes_ Naoto's persona chirped hopefully and gave the general feel of eager happiness. Then, _hesnotansweringyouwhyisntheansweringpleasesayyes_

Her Persona was correct. The young tailor had not replied to her offer at all. She lowered her chopsticks and raised her eyebrows at the young man, who had drastically paled, eyeing Chie-senpai with wide eyes.

She turned her head to Chie, who had the most peculiar expression on her face as she first eyed Naoto, then Kanji. It was to him that she finally spoke. " _You know_ , Kanji-kun! To get your personas working together. Relax!" She giggled, "And remember to breathe."

Naoto turned her head back to Kanji. The shock-pale face had turned into a bright pink in the moments it took Chie to reiterate. "Chie-senpai is correct. I do not suggest anything besides trying to expose our personas to one another more frequently, in hopes we can achieve a better engagement in combat."

She reflected on her words when his only reply was a choked sound about mid-sentence. No, she had been perfectly polite and reasonable. Maybe she needed to clarify more? "I am sure Rise-san would not object, either. This is purely for professional reasons, nothing that should be cause for any alarm or excitement."

At this point, Chie jumped to her feet, that strange, taut expression to her face again. "I forgot," she started to say, walking away swiftly, "that I promised Yukiko to help her with that thing!" Naoto frowned after her, convinced she had seen amusement and heard a stifled laugh as the door to the stairway swung shut.

"Naoto..."

She looked back to Tatsumi. His voice was hoarse and he held a hand pressed over his eyes. "Are you not feeling well?"

"Ah... no... maybe... please wait." He rubbed his face, then let his hand sink slowly. "Uh, y-ya mean for us to hang out more?"

"Only under supervision by Yu-senpai, yes. I want us to try and find a way for our personas to connect better. I wish to see if we can fortify our position in the group by allowing our personas more growth."

He nodded stiffly, muttering something that sounded like "Yu, right", but she wasn't entirely sure about that. "S-sounds good. Uhm. I think I-" he scrambled to his feet, "That thing Yukiko needed, I think I should check in and help, whatever it is that needs help with."

"You have not even touched your food yet. You should not go without regular meals, Kanji-kun. It is counterproductive to building the needed energy to pay attention in class."

"I'll eat in a bit, yeah? I need to- you know- need to check on..." he trailed off, scrambled to his feet and turned, basically bolting to the stairway.

"Please, think about my proposal," she shouted after, nearly starting to her feet as he stumbled over his. "Kanji-kun!"

"'m fine! I'll- I- Yeah!" Behind him, the door swung shut with a bang.

 

 

 


	37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life used to be a lot simpler while Naoto was merely surrounded by adult working professionals. Yes, there was the ever-present misogyny, often she would carry stress that few of her peers would ever know at that age, and being disliked for being good at what she did was so common she had grown to expect the resentment the minute she was on any case.  
> On the other hand, very confusing matters, such as she experienced almost daily when with the others of the investigation team, seemed to never once have come up...

**October 25 th, 2011**

 

The next day brought rain, which was quite common for the season. While the news had announced the weather change to come later in the day, Naoto was glad she had thought about grabbing her umbrella before leaving her apartment. A light drizzle grew quickly to a steady pattering and she would most certainly have ended up soaked by the time she reached the school building.

While the junior detective herself had never experienced the pattern of rain alongside images of the midnight channel, she felt a certain concern about it. Ridiculous, really. Rain was a normal weather pattern. It was not some omen to fear or worry over. ...and still... Everything the teens had told her since she joined the investigation all pointed to the two being linked. She had, in secret, tried to catch the 'Midnight Channel' a few times since, but it had never rained at night and she came up empty-handed.

Rumour at school had also fallen silent about it. Naoto’s thoughts trailed off to the last few times she had attempted to find out more about the rumour. Her gaze rested, unseeing, in the wet pavement before her.

The last she heard was that everyone had since seen their soul mate and due to this the channel had stayed silent. Or that the rumour had never been true and the TV showed you the kind of person you longed for. Or the face of the person who had fallen for you. The explanations for what had been seen were as elaborate as the explanations why the 'broadcast' had ceased.

Walking past the streets leading from the shopping district to the flood plains, she lifted her head to once more see the group's leader walking just in front of her. Two days in a row now. _Talk about omens_ , she thought briefly, then shook her head at the outlandish notion. It was so puerile that not even Sukuna-Hikona spoke up.

The group's leader had turned into a certain focal point in her everyday life since he had appeared at her door step after the rescue from the TV world. It seemed the boy was to be found everywhere she turned. It would be truly unnerving, if Inaba wasn't such a tiny town. She did not spend a lot of time alone in her apartment these days and they went to the same school. Running into one another would be normal and should be expected.

Besides, his company was pleasant. He clearly was smart, had a good understanding of leadership and managed to put her at ease in ways she had not often experienced with anyone else beside her Grandfather.

She sped up her steps to catch up to him. Walking in company was preferable, especially in such miserable weather. "Good morning, Narukami-san."

"Hey, good morning, Naoto." He smiled easily and stopped to talk to her.

She looked up through the clear plastic of her umbrella. "This rain...I do not like it. No one has turned up missing yet, but it still makes me uneasy."

He nodded and was about to comment, when she heard the patter of running footsteps, carrying a shout closer. "Sorry to barge in!" Hanamura and Tatsumi jogged up to them, the older boy boldly grabbing Yu's hand and taking up room under the umbrella alongside him. "Man, that got breezy fast. I thought I had enough time to get to school."

The tall blonde shuddered under the jacket slung loosely over his shoulders and tried to duck alongside his senpai. "M-make room for me too!"

Naoto cocked an eyebrow at the boy. Style was all well and good and she did have to admit that his way of breaking the school uniform code did show his fitness off quite excellently, however, in this weather wearing the jacket properly would be prudent. She tucked her cap down with a flush as she noticed his shirt had started getting wet and clung to him.

His attempt to joining the other boys was cut short by Hanamura giving him an annoyed shove. "This one's already full, dumbass! Get Naoto to make room under hers."

Her eyebrows shot up at how casually the matter was brought up... but then again, plenty of people in Inaba still thought of her as a boy. Yosuke-senpai himself had admitted previously he treated her as "one of the guys" on a number of occasions, and in all honesty, Naoto was glad for it. Her senpai may be rough around the edges and he seemed to thrive on picking fights with some of their group, but she never had to go out of her way to pretend or be taken serious by him.

As such, his suggestion, once the initial surprise was overcome, seemed sensible. It would not lead to much comment if she shared her umbrella with Tatsumi. She lifted her cap and made sure to keep her eyes well above his collarbones. "By all means, Kanji-kun. You could clearly run risk of catching a cold at this rate if you do not." She pulled her umbrella sideways and lifted it slightly, making space for the tall teen. She nodded to her side. "Please."

The shade of red his face tinted into at once was actually rather impressive. "P-P-Ple-“ He spun away from her, mouth agape, to stare at his senpai. “Wha...!? Me and her under the same umbrella...?" The gaze he directed at her from the corner of his eyes was... strange. If she had not paid such close attention to him, she could have missed the flicker of emotion, but it shifted from enthusiastic joy to hesitation, all the way to... hopefulness? No, that could not be not correct. Whatever it was, it was replaced with anger and frustration, possibly at the thought of being teased again by his senpai. Yosuke really seemed to have taken a liking to making his male kohai uneasy. "To hell with that! If I did that, um, it'd mean..." He trailed off and mumbled to himself, "W-We'd practically be like a _couple_!"

While Yu chuckled, there was a groan from the other boy. "And that's a problem because...? Dude, how old are you? Get your ass over here," he said, balling his hand into a fist, "I'll even give you your cootie shot!"

"Shut up! C'mon, let's trade spots!"

"...You know how stupid that sounds, right?" Sighing at the pleading look the blonde directed at the auburn boy, he shrugged and turned to the highly confused girl. "Well, that's fine with me. Naoto, mind if I walk with you?"

She was about to nod, turning to make space for her senpai, when Kanji jumped between them. "H-Hey, who're ya callin' stupid!? Stop talkin' shit about me!"

Flapping his free hand in exasperation, Yosuke growled, "Ughhh, will you just make up your mind!?"

Her gaze went from both her senpai to the young tailor, feeling more and more foolish. "Um, I do not mind making room for whoever..." She tried once more to scoot sideways, making it obvious she was offering to make room for someone to join her. "Look, it really is only sensible to do this. One of you three could simply join me and we can be on our way."

Yu clearly fought laughing out loud at this point, murmuring gently "Maybe I should just go with her, eh, Yosuke?" They shared a grin directed at Kanji, who seemed to bristle up. Just as he opened his mouth to snap at them, their leader said gently, "Go on, Kanji, Naoto offered, just slide in with her under the umbrella."

"What...!? Why!?"

Yosuke-senpai glowered up at him. "Because it's obviously the best solution? You're too damn big. It'll be a tight fit under Yu's umbrella. Naoto's perfect for you."

While the phrasing left something to be desired and Naoto felt a hint of heat rise to her cheeks; she simply tugged her cap lower for a moment without further comment. It could easily have been misunderstood as a comment on personal compatibly. Not that this was _bad_ as such. Her planned excursions with him to the Shadow World were after all to that main goal - working better with him, as a team.

Still, this blushing business had been unexpected. The air was thankfully cool enough, the sudden flush would simply go away in a moment. "And as I said, Kanji-kun, I would not mind in the least."

"P-Perfect?" She peered up at him from under her cap. His eyes seemed glazed over, looking into the distance. "Me an' Naoto...are perfect...?" He turned his head and gazed back at her. Their eyes locked for a moment and she felt herself tense up. Just as she was about to re-affirm she would not mind, he leant back his head and shouted at the cloud-filled sky. "Rrrraaaghhhhh...! Dammit! I don't need an umbrella in a damn drizzle like this! I'll show you all how it's done!"

With that, the turned and sprinted away from them, hugging his school bag close, his legs pumping furiously.

"Kanji-kun!" she shouted after him. "Oh no. Running like this; he could slip and hurt himself."

 _heshouldhavestayed_ , a tiny voice whispered in the back of her mind, agreeing with her.

"He really needs to get over himself. This was his chance," Yu-senpai muttered. Naoto nodded in agreement. It was doubtful he would run into anyone else he could ask to share an umbrella with, asking her would indeed have been his best chance.

"Sheesh...That idiot's gonna make himself sick." She turned her head to watch Yosuke-senpai shake his head. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. "Oh crap...We're gonna be late if we keep this nonsense up. Let's hurry it up!"

While her senpai were chatting along the way, Naoto did not actually hear much of what was being said. The odd looks Kanji-kun gave her kept pushing back into her mind.

 

* * *

 

**October 27 th, 2011**

 

Naoto had been too preoccupied all day to really pay attention to what was going on around her. She felt on edge, irritated, exasperated, and uneasy in general. The reasons were manifold - but could all be summarised by the mess of papers on her school desk that moment. While her class had put forward to have a play in the style of Shakespeare, she very quickly found that there would be no organisers unless she stepped forward in this matter. And their teacher had made it very clear that the whole class would face disciplinary issues if they were not going to take the upcoming culture festival seriously.

Her own pitches to salvage the matter, such as taking a Shakespearian play and putting it into the dramatic acting of Japanese Kabuki were shot down swiftly. "Too much work," her fellow students had groaned, "I hate that makeup," was added by some of the girls and, when she pointed out that traditional kabuki was male-only, she was chided for being _sexist_ of all things! _How can a cultural norm possibly be sexist,_ she wondered, while frowning at the suggestion that Hamlet shows up on the balcony to incite jealousy in Romeo.

Her suggestion to simply find a shortened version of a play was also swiftly rejected. "No one understands that oldie-talk anymore, Shirogane!” or, "I'll never remember these dumb words in this!"

And so, she found herself frowning at the pitched script for "Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet", not even spelled properly in the title, silently praying a very direct strike of lightning could take her out. Maybe Kanji-kun could assist with that, seeing Take-Mikazuchi wielded the power of _Zio_.

At the mention of the tall boy and his Persona, her own true self seemed to wake up.

_iwanttogoplaywithTakeMi_

_'Yu-senpai made it clear that no outings will be taking place for a while to come. First the festival, then we will see what happens. But soon, I hope.'_

_wecouldjustsneakoutwithhimanddosomereallyeasyShadowstogether_

_'According to Rise-san, Yu-senpai gets ... protective when that topic arises. Best to not tempt his anger in that regard.'_

_butiamsososo_ soso _bored,_ her Persona whined at her.

 _I know the feeling,'_ she sighed in return and glared at the script. _'Right now, I would gladly take whatever thing to pull me away from this...drivel.'_

The door to her classroom banged open, jumping on its rail. With it came a furious Satonaka-senpai, a troubled-looking Amagi-senpai and a rather chipper looking Rise-san.

Satonaka must have been in the middle of a rant, her furious shouting filling her class room at once with, "-so hard in his _tiny_ balls he will-"

"Chie!" an outraged Amagi squeaked. Rise lifted a hand to her mouth and poorly hid a giggle. "I'm upset as well, but please mind your language," the black-haired girl resumed, shooting Rise a quick glare.

"I-! GAH! ... Sorry, Yuki, but I am just _soooo_ pissed at him! Just... ARGH! HWAAA-TAAAAA, in the face!" She underlined her outburst with a straight sideways kick which she pulled up until it pointed to the ceiling. Not for the first time Naoto wondered how often her senpai trained to gain such flexibility.

"Let's just get Naoto-kun and go talk to them," Rise said and gave her a 6000-watt smile. "I bet she hasn’t seen it yet."

"Seen what-?" Naoto started.

" _Talking_ isn't what I had planned. I'll rip his damn head off, I'll-!"

" _Please_ , Chie-chan..." Amagi sighed, taking her friends' fist in her hand for a moment. "At least till we get to the roof?"

"What... appears to be the trouble?" Naoto tried a second time. She glanced at her desk with a frown, stuffed the papers into her desk and gave her team members her full attention.

"Well," the idol supplied, "I'm not sure it's really _that_ big of a deal, but it seems _someone_ signed us up for the Miss Yasogami High beauty contest!" She squeaked happily. "Oh, this is going to be so much _fun_ with all of you guys!"

The cobalt-haired girl pushed her cap back slowly and blinked. She was certain she had heard correctly, but the words stringed together made no sense to her at all. "Miss...?"

"I'll not go prancing around like an idiot on a stage to be leered at!" the sporty senpai growled just as Rise tried to explain.

"Senpai, I promise, it'll be fun! There's plenty of guys who love these kinds of things, you'll get so many admirers!"

"Ad-Admirers?" Naoto anxiously asked, getting to her feet now. "W-Wait, Rise-san. What is going on here?"

It was Amagi who explained, as Rise still tried to calm Chie down. "Each year Kashiwagi tries to run a beauty pageant, but so far it never had enough entries. So this year, she set the rules that once someone signs up, they cannot pull out again."

"...yes?" Naoto probed cautiously.

"Hanamura signed us up!" Chie roared, fury rolling off of her in waves. Naoto stepped back subconsciously. "He just signed us up for it!"

"Yes, well, I am sure I can explain the matter to the faculty..." the junior Shirogane stated mildly. "Certainly the rules do not include being signed up against ones' will as a legitimate entry. Just..." The junior Shirogane watched the girls and cleared her throat. "Rise-san, you three wait here, I will sort this out right away." This would need a calm head and tact, something at least one fourth of the girls right now severely lacked.

As she walked to the door and opened it, a much-relieved Chie shouted after her, "I love you so much for this, Naoto-kun!"

She pulled the door shut and noticed the open stares from a number of other students in the hallway. "This-! This was not as it sounded..." She tucked her cap down to nearly hide her eyes and turned to walk away. She had no time to play rumour-quencher right now. Let them think Chie-senpai had her eyes on the Detective Prince. Not like that was anything new any longer.

As Naoto walked to the staff room, she felt eyes on her and several not-very silent whispers. The general census seemed to be confusion as to why someone would have signed up Shirogane-kun to the _girl's_ pageant.

The whispers raised a very valid point. While so far none of the teachers had much commented on the rumour or pressed her for details, her appearance would very much solidify her standing as a female and shatter her chances to uphold her camouflage. A sudden surge of anger at the thoughtless action of her male senpai hit her and her gut tightened.

She had to stop this, not only for her own dignity, but also to avoid the tumble down the slope she had been standing on for weeks now. Peering at the sign-up sheet, she growled as she saw the same cramped handwriting list the names of the four girls of the investigation team. Her own first name wasn't even spelled properly and inked in _hiragana_! Well. It should be simple to sort this out, she thought as she turned to march up to the teachers' lounge.

Her strong rap against the door was answered by her history teacher pulling the door open. "Yes, Shirogane-kun?"

"Sofue-sensei, I was hoping I could discuss a certain matter with Kashiwagi-sensei."

"Of course, come on in." She stepped aside and let Naoto pass inside. "This way."

The girl tucked her cap lower and followed her history teacher through the open office towards a suspiciously empty desk. All others had piles of course work or open laptops. Here, the desk was almost barren, only holding a few teacher-edition books which showed bookmarked course work and a few pens. No homework to review, no planed stages of future classes. Orderly, sure, but the setting somehow smacked of a certain lack of care to Naoto.

"Noriko-san? Shirogane-kun is here to see you."

"What? Oh. Yes." A predatory smile crept over her features. "I very nearly expected this. Thank you, Kimiko-san." The woman nodded, walking back to her artefact-laden desk and left Naoto standing uneasily before the second-year homeroom teacher, who let her eyes run over her student slowly. "Decided to have your coming-out finally, Shirogane- _kun_? About time, too, if you ask me. Just because you're not built like a girl-"

"Kashiwagi-sensei, I have not signed myself up for the pageant."

The woman cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Yes, that is indeed so. In fact, myself, Kujikawa, Satonaka and Amagi all have been signed up against our will. I am certain if we review the handwriting on the entry sheet, it will be easy to find that all of our names are in the same, obviously male, handwriting." She set her hands to the small of her back and waited.

The answer was not the expected, understanding resolution. "So you think a boy signed up the four of you?" Naoto simply nodded. "How strange, that your name is in the mix. The other girls at least have some-" her teacher made a suggestive gesture, "and I can see why they want the jailbait on stage, but _you_?" Kashiwagi did not even have the decency to hide a delighted titter. "I mean, sure, I could do without that Amagi-girl in the show, guys seem to drool over her too much... it will surely cost me a few votes. But, whatever. I guess someone is trying to compare you girls, and that's fine with me. In the end we all know that mature women are what boys at this age crave."

"Sensei, you seem to not understand fully," Naoto tried once more, "none of us signed up for this. We do not wish to enter the pageant. In my case, I am certain I could even bring forward a number of very valid-"

Her teacher’s amusement ebbed away and she sat up straight. "Sorry, kiddo, but you're not going to weasel yourself out of this one. Once a name is on the list, it stays. That's the rules."

"But... We did not sign up for any of this! You cannot make a contract that binds someone without their consent!"

"Your names are already on the roll. If I let you weasel out of it, then others would. I don't care if you don't like it. You are signed up. Attendance is just as mandatory as any other class. And if you skip," her teacher now sneered, "then I'll be glad to count this as you skipping out on the culture festival."

The girl's eyes widened. If that threat was real, then she would be signed up as tardy for two full days of school. "You cannot be serious..." her voice trailed off as her teacher's smile returned.

"This matter has already been signed off by the headmaster. Trust me - you will be on that stage and I don't care how many of the boys laugh at you." The smile grew cold. "It's about time someone took you down a peg or two. Now, Shirogane- _kun_ , I am sure you want to go plan your outfit for the big day. Off you go." With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the girl.

Naoto felt so stunned that she did not notice her feet carrying her back to her class room, to her desk and into her chair.

"So?" A very hopeful Chie showed up at her side. "You totally explained, right? I mean, the teachers here like you, don’t they? It's no problem for you to get us out of this one?"

"Naoto-kun?" Rise stood in front of her, waving a hand up and down before her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Kashiwagi-sensei," the blue-haired girl said slowly, "said that she does not care who signed us up. Not appearing will mean we receive tardy entries for the whole two days..."

"Oh, I am going to _kill_ Hanamura!" Satonaka spun around and raced to the door, a flustered Amagi following.

Rise sighed and grabbed Naoto by her arm to pull her up. "Well, come on, we better go with them. I still think this'll be fun, once our senpai calm down. It'll be awesome to be on stage with friends for once."

"With friends?" The junior Shirogane followed along, walking up the stairs with the bouncy idol.

"Totally! Being on stage with you sounds great! Even if it is a bit unfair, because I've been on stages for years now, but I'll totally hold back for you guys and not steal the show!" She pulled Naoto out on the roof just in time to dodge two second-year girls who fled the open space at full speed.

"You better have a damn good explanation for this!" Satonaka was less than a foot away from her male classmates, nearly vibrating with anger.

Naoto was dragged closer by Rise. They stood a little behind their female senpai closing in on Hanamura. Off to one side stood Yu-senpai, his arms crossed and looking defensive; beside him was Kanji-kun, the expression on his face holding no pity for the shaggy-haired senpai, slowly stretching his arms and shoulders out.

The scene before her would have been so obviously cliché, if not for the fact that it was not only her group of friends here - a number of students from other grades and classes stood all around the roof, mainly trying to listen in without being too obvious about it.

Yosuke-san clasped his hand to his chest, eyes wide with an innocence that even someone as hopeless as Adachi would've labelled unconvincing. "For what?"

"The beauty pageant, moron!" Her female senpai edged closer, trapping him against one of the rooftop air ducts. "You signed us up without even asking!"

"Hey! Why do you automatically blame me?"

"Past experience," muttered Amagi-san. While she had so far been collected, the news that even Naoto was not able to get them out of this problem set her into one of her cold furies. The two girls stepped closer as one, fists clenched, and Yosuke's wide-eyed look swerved from feigned ignorance to mild panic.

Chie was leaning forward on her tiptoes, dangerously close to his face. "You are in _so_ much trouble!"

"Whoa, whoa!" He raised his palms defensively. "I-I mean, if you don't wanna do it, just say no, right? L-like, it was just a joke!"

The girl stamped down her foot, only missing his feet because he flinched away. "We wouldn't be so pissed if we could do that!"

"You can't?" Kanji asked. Until now, he had seemed only remotely interested, but as Naoto glanced at him sideways, something odd lit up in his eyes.

Her focus shifted back forward to their senpai, her hand settling on her hip by pure habit. She glanced at one boy after the other, the hand on her hip slowly tapping herself in thought. How much were the other boys aware of the situation?

Yukiko turned to him and shook her head. "Kashiwagi-sensei's running the pageant. Once somebody's been signed up, they can't back out." Her expression turned grim. "No matter what. Naoto-kun just tried to get us out and was told no."

"That's right," Rise said, with a firm nod. "Word is that the contest won't go ahead without at least three entrants - and I bet Kashiwagi's been waiting for this all year. Her name's first on the sign-up sheet, right above Ohtani."

"Seriously?" Yosuke winced and ran a hand through his hair. "Man, I didn't even read the other names…or the fine print…"

Naoto's eyes narrowed.

"So it was you!" Chie-san shrieked.

"Oh crap! Listen, Chie, I-"

"Idiot! I can't believe you'd do that!" Her senpai's voice sounded almost tearful. "Of all the stupid, selfish, immature-" The girl ran out of adjectives and the rest of the sentence turned into a wordless, furious growl.

Naoto wholeheartedly shared the sporty girl's sentiment. Keeping her face as expressionless as possible, she ran her options through her mind. While she really, _really_ craved to blow off steam like Satonaka, she knew that it would be more than pointless. What's done was done. She would simply need to find a new way to deal with this. There was still the option of speaking to the headmaster. Surely no teacher could enforce such an outlandish rule without the backing of the head of faculty and she would make sure that all her concerns, including privacy laws, would be heard. However, the elderly teacher was a busy man and she would need to set an appointment. And soon.

She had zoned out and sadly resurfaced in time to see a smarmy grin on Hanamura's face as he said, "...on top of that, we have an idol and a Detective Prince."

Naoto's hand tapped sharply against her hip as she hissed a _tsk_. The hole the boy was digging for himself just dropped an extra half a meter with that sentence alone. While all others in their group had quickly understood her dislike for that specific nickname, he had kept on using it happily, as it if was some kind of accomplishment.

Both of Yosuke's hands flew to cover his sensitive parts as Chie stepped back, about to rise one of her legs backwards for a well-deserved punt. "N-no! I-it was just-hey, Kanji! You want the girls to be in it too, don'tcha?"

Her hand still firmly on her hip, Naoto only turned her head to regard the youth. His eyes went wide in panic as he looked from one girl to the next, finally ending their journey looking at her. "I-I ain't interested in that stuff." The way his eyes widened as he said it told his lie clearly, and yet... his voice sounded as if he had been pleading specifically with her as he said it. "So, you-all'a you can do whatever." He made a dismissive gesture with his hand, yet as he tried to look away, his eyes kept turning back to her still.

She turned as she heard Yosuke-senpai speak up. "Naoto-kun, Kanji-kun says he really wants you to be in it."

She must have misheard. "Wh-what?" Her eyes turned to the tall boy again. Hadn't he just clearly stated that...?

His pupils shrunk up and he paled fast enough that she worried he was passing out. "I-I-I didn't say that!"

She nodded at the tall boy. He had not, and whatever it was Hanamura had heard was wishful thinking. Kanji-kun would never-

"And Yu's just dying to see our lovely ladies up there too! Right, partner?

"I just want everyone to know," Yu-senpai said, his voice flat and his arms crossed over his chest, "that I had nothing to do with this." Naoto nodded to him as well. It was clear he would not pull such an offensive prank. Her eyes turned, fixing themselves on the lankier of her two male senpai.

"M-Me neither!" came a near-desperate squeak from Kanji. She did not turn away from Hanamura this time.

"Well, if Senpai wants to see us, I guess we've gotta do it!" said Rise, happily and without any actual connection to the discussion. Yu-senpai had said no such thing... "If there are people looking forward to seeing me, I might as well put on a show for 'em. My agency doesn't need to know."

"Th-that's right!" Excitedly Yosuke pointed at Rise. "See, Risette's got the right idea! Teddie can't wait either!" He paused. "Actually, I think he was more excited than anyone. He's planning on sneaking in to watch."

Sighing, Chie shoved her hands deep in her tracksuit pockets. She'd stopped threatening to beat Yosuke to death in favour of frowning at her feet; maybe his explanation had worked after all. "So, Ted's behind this too. I should've known that a plan like... like…"

"..a plan of absurdity of such magnitude..." Naoto supplied.

"...yeah, what Naoto said, could not have been Yosuke's brilliant idea alone."

Naoto glowered, trying to ignite the boy in front of her with her gaze, before, with a frustrated sigh, she recalled the conversation with Kashiwagi. For the time being... well. "If we cannot refuse, I suppose there is no sense in arguing the point." She tucked on her cap uneasily, then turned her eyes on Yu-senpai. "But for someone like me to get up on stage…" She shook her head. "Perhaps there's a way I could still take it up with the school authorities once more. I can approach the headmaster directly. Surely there are certain standards of decency that would be violated by this."

"I-I don't think it's a problem at all."

Naoto slowly lifted her head and turned, gaping at the source of the voice. _Kanji-kun. Kanji-kun?!_ Did he not, just moments ago, profess his innocence in the matter? And now he wished to have it proceed regardless?

"I-I mean, just do it, y'know? Seriously!" He started to slowly raise his voice at the assembled.

"Dude," Yosuke murmured somewhere to her right, "your blood's boiling even more than usual!"

She stared a few moments more before swivelling away and tugging down the brim of her cap. The uneasy sensation which she sometimes got around the blonde or Yu-senpai hit her again. It felt a bit like a dizzy spell, the kind you get after donating blood and getting on your feet too quickly. Or the feeling she would get after the second glass of wine during festive dinners back home. Or...

Or being around Yu-senpai when he complimented her.

Kanji had made her uneasy before, but she had never felt quite this off-balance around _him_ before.

Rise giggled right behind her. "Silly Kanji! Just tell Naoto-kun you wanna see her on the stage." She heard shoes skip over the ground, then felt the idol latch one arm around her shoulders. A hand came into her field of vision from beside her and she felt her cap being tugged up again. "She'll totally do it. Then all four of us will be in the pageant!"

As the junior Shirogane scrambled to adjust her hat, her eyes drawn to the boys while at the same time trying frantically to find new, unseen patterns on the ground; she heard the other girls speak up loudly.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Chie-san protested loudly, followed almost immediately by Yukiko-san with, "B-but we never said- Rise-chan!"

Finally, able to wrestle herself out of the unwanted physical contact enough to face the other girls, Naoto stuttered, "Wh-what are you saying!?"

While her eyes where still glued on Rise-san, she heard one of the boys clear his throat roughly. What followed was the surprisingly gentle and soft voice of Kanji Tatsumi. "Um, I beg you. P-please be in it. If you do, my-" He hesitated. "My, uh, doubts will finally be cleared."

In turn, Naoto had fully given up on escaping the idol now. She simply allowed her to hold on to her, while staring openly at the boy. _Doubts...?!_

He eyes flitted around - taking in their senpai standing near them in different stages of surprise or intrigue, the soft chuckle of the idol clinging on to her - and Kanji Tatsumi, his bravado slowly boiling over along with whatever emotion it was that roiled inside of him. Finally, her glance shot off to one side, trying to check just how close anyone else was standing near their group right that moment. Sure, they were not discussing the case, but something told her they might have wanted a less public location than the roof overlooking town.

Tatsumi took half a step forward, almost as if to challenge her and raised his voice even more. "C'mon!" he yelled, fists clenched. "Make me a man!"

Silence fell - or would've, if not for her own eloquence failing her, turning the words she wanted to form into quiet sounds of distress. Naoto was all too aware of the other students on the roof whispering as they turned to gawk at the team. She also swore he heard Yosuke-senpai snicker in a very lecherous manner, totally unbefitting his standing as a senpai. He must have misunderstood the tall blonde.

For that matter, she _herself_ must have misunderstood him. His last outburst had almost sounded like an indecent proposal. Ignoring it was possibly the safest bet here. Finally, she blinked again, focussing. _Yes, ignore that comment and focus on... on_... "Doubts? What are you talking about?" Yes. Solid. Defuse the satiation by appealing to rationality.

Sadly, the attempt at giving him an out seemed to be fully missed by the tall boy. "L-look, just do it, dammit! I mean, you're an ace detective, aren't ya?"

"Wh-What does that have to do with a beauty pageant?!" Naoto spluttered.

She was not entirely sure if he himself knew. Kanji only glared at her, breathing hard. Naoto glared back. The feeling of unease had passed, only to be replaced with near-outrage over his brashness. How he went from being opposed to the girls taking part to specifically pushing her forward...

And then it all fell into place. This was not about the pageant at all. At least, it wasn't as such and it wasn't to _him_. To _him_ , she possibly still was the detective. The snoop who had tried to find out about him. She had never asked him, but perhaps he was worried her inquires earlier in the year had been about his gang involvement? Maybe he thought she was used by the police still to keep an eye on him? And if so... then the pageant was about something else than her simply being on stage.

Yes. This was on her, fully. If she had been more forward with her own motives, if she had not squandered her opportunities to set the record straight with the boy, she would not be in this position - where he could be the strong one, standing tall, as she, as an enforcement officer, was being paraded onto a stage. Not for her qualities as a detective, but to heighten she was feminine.

She would be the strong, powerful detective on stage - but she would be there as a female. And as such, she would make him a man. He could stand back, her walls stripped of her, and bask. She would call it petty... but she had to admit her failings had been many and maybe... just maybe... he deserved this.

In the far back of her mind, Sukuna-Hikona tried to point out other motives, but she simply tuned out his distracting stream of consciousness.

The school bell rang.

"Well, that's that!" Rise chirped, as she unwrapped herself from Naoto's shoulders. "So we're all in the pageant, right?"

"Whatever. I'm not gonna be late for class because of-just-ugh!" With one last scowl at Yosuke-senpai, Chie-san stormed past Kanji and grabbed Naoto's arm. "C'mon, Naoto-kun."

The girl yelped in surprise as her arm was grabbed and she was dragged away from the others.

Her senpai was fuming. "The _nerve_. I really don't know why I bother being friends with Hanamura sometimes! Oh, sorry, Naoto-kun," she said when she realised Naoto was barely keeping up and only stumbling along because she was being pulled, "I just... just... UGH!" Chie leaned against the railing of the overlook down into the entrance hall.

Behind them, Yukiko appeared, putting a hand on Chie's shoulder. "Naoto-kun, you said you talked to Kashiwagi-sensei?"

"That is correct," the younger girl said, trying to straighten her shirt and jacket.

"Did she, perhaps, detail what punishments besides a tardy note she would give...?"

"Yuki!" Chie-san looked shocked. "You aren't... not you!"

"Well," the team Priestess said, squirming, "All of us could weather tardy notes, they happen, right? I mean, even if it is two days in a row... and who knows, maybe we can find a way to get an absolution from a doctor?"

Naoto crossed her arms and frowned. "The four of us? At the same time? One or two might be able to get away with that, but not all of us." She pushed her sleeve up and glanced at her watch with a sigh. "We all need to proceed to class now, the second bell is about to ring. I will see you later, senpai."

On her way back, Rise caught up with her. "Man, all the things Kanji-kun said, eh?"

Naoto shook her head and walked to her desk. "He was panicking because he was afraid we might think he is to blame. I will analyse the hand writing later, but I am fairly certain this is all going to come back to Hanamura-senpai."

The idol waved her off. "Sure, sure, but I mean, like, he was so fixed on you! How cute was that?" With a wink and a smile, she darted out of the class room, just barely escaping Sofue-san as she entered the room through the door at the front of the classroom.

 _Was it cute?_ Naoto frowned as she got up to stand beside her desk. _If anything, it was irrational and confusing – as matters sadly tend to be with the boy._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, finally, FESTIVAL DAYS!   
> We're going to see Naoto's side, as it seems everyone was looking forward to that. This also means, as Shortest Distance had a perspective flip, we'll get an interlude from Kanji in a few chapters as well. Also, please keep in mind we'll be headed into Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Years soon, and if it goes as last year, then my wonderful volunteer editor, zero-damage on reddit (no relation, sadly), will be AFK. 
> 
> During that time, please look forward to "Will You Catch Me (If I Fall)?", as that will be my upcoming focus during that time. :)


	38. Chapter Thirty-Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto isn't sure what to make of plans of revenge... and not sure either what to make of a blank, white postcard her senpai gives her later that day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. I am SO sorry for the wait. 13 Nov 2016 was the last update and then I thought it would be just for the holidays while I write other stuff. Then my old lappy gave up its ghost and stuff happened and I AM WRITING AGAIN.  
> A huge thank-you, as always to my DF editor Crossbowfinger here on AO3. *hearts*
> 
> Also, full disclaimer: I KNOW that you cannot start Naoto's SLink on 10/28, it is impossible to do so. However, I am leaning on Shortest Distance - and this is the day that Naoki told Kanji that Yu-senpai would meet with him later, after he talked to Naoto about something... something that would take most of his afternoon.

**October 28th, 2011**

 

Naoto leaned forward against the desk; pressed her fingertips together and let her head sink just enough to have the brim of her cap shield her eyes. She refused to sigh or grumble – what done, as she had been informed by the faculty not too long ago, was done. Still, this bothered her.

“Was it truly necessary to involve Tatsumi-kun into this? He did say he had nothing to do with it, and my analysis of the handwriting _did_ point to Hanamura as the sole guilty party in all of this.” She flickered her eyes to her two senpai. “Two wrongs do not make a right.”

Nervously, their sporty senpai started to chuckle. “Eh-heh, but two lefts-“

“Would bring about a full 180 turn, Chie-senpai,” the blue-haired girl sighed. She lifted her head. “Further, your act of retaliation may have taken away any possible sway I might have been able to muster against our own situation before the faculty. I had planned to speak to our headmaster still. A measure I can possibly drop at this point.”

Rise, who had sat perched on her table, now sighed dramatically. “You told us that it wasn’t going anywhere. Besides, without Chie-senpai taking action as quickly as she did, these guys wouldn’t be the show headers! And I can’t wait to see Yu-senpai all dressed up for all of us…”

Here the junior detective leaned back and crossed her arms. She had overheard their arguments during lunch break, and still … it bothered her that they had insisted on involving Kanji Tatsumi. She needed his trust; she needed his goodwill. Angering him had not been part of her plans. Although, and here he had surprised her, it seems that after giving it some thought he had been at least okay with the matter.

All things considered, Kanji Tatsumi was her best chance of proving herself more useful to the team as a whole. She joined them fairly late and she learned quickly that the limitations of Rise-san’s focus and the limited overview their leader had, meant that the three spaces as part of the active combat team were highly prized. In order to be considered, she gathered, was a certain level of both expertise and finesse needed. And she was sorely lacking in both, having joined them so much later. Certainly, she knew how to handle herself with her gun, but the Shadows she had encountered and learned about did not seem to take much stock in having lead rip through them. As such, she needed to master her skills with her persona – and Kanji would be vital in showing she had worth in that regard.

She blinked, returning to the conversation. The last she heard was Rise mentioning something about ‘considering an outfit’ and who should team up with whom. Naoto was relieved to find she had been excluded from these considerations. She did not want to have anything else to do with any of this foolishness. And she might yet think of a way to convince them to find a way out of their situation.

Before she could re-join the conversation, however, Yukiko and Chie exchanged a glance and both nodded. “Okay, we need to get going now, Rise-chan, Naoto-kun. I promised Yuki I’d help with some inventory stuff at the inn.”

“Sounds good,” the idol added and hopped off the desk, “I think Kanji-kun is waiting for me, anyhow.”

Naoto’s eyes darted to the other girl and she found herself frowning. Naturally, she would hang out with him, she generally did; this was only normal and to be expected of a couple dating. Nevertheless, her flaunting of spending time with her _beau_ , especially after just openly drooling over Narukami-san again… It felt wrong. Nobody should so cruelly play with the affections of anyone. Moreover, Tatsumi-kun seemed a very gentle soul. He did not deserve this.

It was, however, none of her business. “Yes, well. I have some work to conduct at home, myself,” she said instead, rising to her feet.

Packing up her book bag, she pondered if she might have one last shot at arguing their case. Maybe Chie-san’s actions were not as grave as she thought. Maybe she could get all of them off the hook still. An argument that might be weak if used for one student to get an exception could pale beside one used to gain the entire event cancelled…

Brooding over possible arguments for their head of faculty to consider, Naoto found herself standing in front of the closed door to the teachers’ lounge, pondering how to best proceed. She noticed students move about around her. The whispers near her had grown in intensity since Hanamura had added her name to that accursed list. Her last few strongholds against being ousted as female in front of her peers melted like ice in a furnace. She felt a presence approach that did not seem to move around - either in front of or behind her. The girl turned to face the newcomer with a curious glance.

Yu Narukami strolled up to her, greeting her with a casually raised hand. “Hey there, Naoto-kun. How’s your day?”

“Oh, Yu-san. Umm…” She glanced away for a moment to gather her thoughts. She still felt flustered around the leader of their very rag-tag gang of young adolescents. His presence was still enough to always drag forth the image of his worn-out face while he told her _‘You’re being a jerk, Naoto_ ’ – the tired helplessness whenever he brought up that she made his job of leading the group harder. Each time she thought on it, it was as if another layer of obligation was added to her interactions with the grey-haired senpai. She turned her gaze to him without lifting her head, glancing at him from just under the rim of her cap. “Th-Thank you for saving me.”

If anything, then his warm, pleased smile made the situation even more unbearable to her. He had a right to be boastful or smug – it is what she would have expected from a fellow officer at the police station if they pulled her out of a tricky situation. No such thing from him or the rest of their group, however. Naoto nodded to the door in front of her uneasily. “Er… I apologise, but I have something I want to think about…”

“Sure, you’re always very busy. But, ah, that reminds me.’ He opened his school bag and pulled out a white, thick cardboard card. “A few days ago, in the shopping district, I ran into this guy who seized me up, peppered me with questions, and finally told me that he knew we were friends. He then gave me this card and told me to give it to you. His words were that you’d understand, or something like that.”

Naoto stared at the card held towards her as if it were a live thing, and a dangerous one at that. “What is this…? He said I would understand?” She stared at his hand still, and then turned her head sideways. With her Grandfather still being in America and Yakushiji being very much alone at the estate, this could be more worrisome than their group’s young leader could fathom. “What is this supposed to mean,” she breathed to herself. Worrying her lower lip under her teeth, she frowned, and finally looked up directly into the grey-haired boys’ eyes. “Excuse me… but could you please accompany me for a brief period…? I would like to hear more about what transpired when you were given this card. Please, it will not take long. I will ensure that I won’t take much of your afternoon with this.”

He looked at the card, still in his hand, then grinned and gave her a quick nod. “Sure, just let me send a quick text message to Naoki Konishi; I have dinner plans with him later.”

“If tonight is bad for you-” the girl started.

“Not at all, I just want to make sure he knows I’ll meet him at Aiya instead of after school. Let’s go, I can type this up as we walk.”

“Thank you, senpai.”

Naoto gave the door to the staff room one last glance. Sure, getting out of the pageant was something she needed to make happen, but this could either be a break in the case… or a danger to her Grandfather, Yakushiji… or herself.

As they walked along the slow path headed away from the schools wide-open gates, she realised she had not written to her Grampa in some time. Was he doing well? Working with the state police of another nation was tricky at best, and it could be downright dangerous. He even believed to have agents causing problems in his current investigation.

The walk to the small pavilion near the Samegawa flood plains was a short one from their school, and both had been rather quiet. Yu-senpai was texting, and Naoto was sorting her mile-a-minute thoughts. She would need to question Narukami thoroughly, then head home and send a few emails. No matter if this was about the case here, or a new threat, she needed to make sure she set her own plans into action swiftly.

Naoto held out her hand after a few minutes of walking, gazed about, and pointed to the gazebo on the wide-open field beside the river

As they settled down across from one another on the picnic table, Naoto pulled a small notebook from her shirt pocket and opened it on the page marked by the pen that served as both bookmark and writing utensil. “I apologise. I wanted to talk someplace quiet…” She penned down a few standard questions quickly while talking. “What sort of person gave this to you?”

“Let’s see,” the boy mused, his eyes sliding out of focus and to his left as he tried to remember the conversation he had. “It was an evening a few days ago. I was in the northern part of the shopping district, not far from the shrine. Actually, it was across from the small store selling steak skewers.”

“You are speaking of Souzai Daigaku?”

“Yeah, there. I had not seen him before and he seemed dressed too formal to just randomly hang out in town, if you know what I mean. When I approached him, he was actually watching the doors to Tatsumi Textiles closely.”

Naoto frowned, writing as she already asked her next question. “Did he seem to be waiting for something?”

“I… am not really sure… He did appear as if he would be willing to wait however long he needed, for whatever it was. At first, I thought I was wrong, and that he watched the shrine. He was dressed very formally, so I thought maybe he had been out paying his respects.”

She held up her left hand, writing as quickly as she could while he spoke. “Excuse me, could you describe what he looked like?”

“He was older, maybe in his fifties. He wore a suit and sunglasses. But I am not sure if I would be the best to ask about the outfit. Maybe Kanji has seen him before?”

“Yes,” she noted, writing this further down on her page as he spoke, “Kanji-kun would have a better eye for that than either of us. I shall ask him. “ She bit down on the end of her pen, her teeth hidden behind her lips. “Anything else about him?”

“He appeared to know a lot more than he should, seeing as I had not seen him before here in Inaba or the shopping district. And he was a man who knew I knew you.”

The junior Shirogane slowly lifted her head from her notebook. “Which means… it is possible that he has been prying around town, gathering information on you – or me… or even the case. The man must also know you well. He wouldn’t have entrusted the delivery to anyone he did not know, as I had not seen an envelope or any markings on the paper.”

While her senpai turned a surprised gaze at the thick paper in before him; she gazed away and pondered what she just learned. _If he was watching Tatsumi Textiles…hm. With the questions asked, he could have been lying in wait for several of us._ “Yu-senpai… the locale where he was waiting, he could have been trying to catch any number of us. Rise-san lives down the street and Marukyu Tofu is well in sight from where you described.” She knew, she had staked out at the very spot herself before. “Chie-senpai loves to stop for steak skewers there frequently. And both Yukiko-senpai and Kanji-kun would be easily found walking in or out of Tatsumi-ya.”

The last thought made her frown deeper. Out of the ones she just listed, the most likely to know about her had been Kanji-kun. She knew him the longest and, certainly, someone must have seen her in his company, if she had been shadowed before. In addition, there was something deeply unsettling about either someone paying such close attention to her and her interactions with one young Tatsumi… or that her interactions with him could have drawn the eye of unsavoury persons. She added a large-lettered note to warn Kanji of possibly trouble for him or his mother.

“But this is a small town,” she continued, “the would-be assailant could easily have looked up my address. Why go to the trouble of giving the letter to you by hand; even going so far as to ask you questions to ensure you knew who I am…? Intriguing. Is he involved with the case? Or another case altogether? If it is me he is after, he could be anyone.”

“Assailant,” her senpai said, sounding worried. “What makes you think he was there to attack anyone?”

“None of us, save Kanji Tatsumi, have any kind of police records.” She omitted the file she saw on her two male senpai for carrying offensive weapons in Junes. “Further, I believe if the man had been a detective, I would know of him or have heard of an investigation beforehand. Since he has no legal basis to take us out and seek to connect with either of us; and since he was in a locale which could have easily given him access to most of our team in one largely cast net, I must assume that his intentions are not of any kind nature.”

Narukami stilled and slowly nodded. “That makes way too much sense. Now I am worried, too.” He fidgeted with the card, turning it repeatedly in his hand.

“Oh, I shall keep the card. The man is most likely still here in Inaba. I cannot drag you further into this.” She took the card out of his hand carefully, slipping it between two pages of her notebook. She prayed that the paper had not been tempered with any harmful chemicals. “I… would advise you to wash your hands before you prepare food or similar, just to be safe,” she added. His eyes widened and he looked at his hands. “Do not worry. I do not expect anything deadly, not in such a casually handed-over manner. But I would still wish no chemicals would be transferred, if the paper was in some form prepared.”

“I’ve had this card for days now… I kept forgetting to give it to you.”

She frowned at him. “Senpai, after the letter threatening you to not rescue any further victims, I would have hoped you were more careful.” His crushed expression made her sigh and close her eyes with a sigh for a moment. “I am sorry. I am running all of this too quickly for you all to follow, perhaps. All of this is second nature to me, thanks to many years of training. We are currently all in danger, as Kanji-kun pointed out to poignantly. We need to be careful to avoid transporting ourselves in trouble.” She gave him a small nod. “Do not burden yourself more than you have to. I will take care of this mystery and make sure we do not have to fear from a new source of possible threat.”

Yu shook his head and leaned forward on the table. “No, Naoto-kun. I gotta help. You’re a girl.”

She was not entirely sure if she felt her blood freeze or boil over at this point. A girl. That was his concern here. She had handled this –and worse! - many years longer than any of these children had! Who did he think he was, to just walk in and take over from her? Just as other men had tried, before she decided to abandon her gender to fit the views of society on what she could or could not do, she would set him straight before he could even begin to try to deepen this warped view of her.

With ice in her voice, she growled, “Please refrain from making such judgements. I have always handled things by myself. Being male or female has nothing to do with it!”

She paused, feeling her face flush. She gazed away, then back at him. He kept his eyes steadily on her, simply waiting her out. “W-Why are you staring at me?”

“I am waiting for you to put it all together, detective,” he said, raising his eyebrows at her.

Her frown deepened and she turned her face away from him, trying to fight the blush she always got when he simply stared at her like this. _Think on it. Think on what? His tendency to patronise the fairer sex? His habitual directive to hold back the girls in the group? What was he so worried for?_

It hit her. “Ah… you were… worried about me.” She glanced at him, then looked away uneasily. “I apologise.” She frowned. Indeed, he did this to all girls in the group… and herself included. What he did was merely his upbringing. He was to be worried for and to look out for the females in his life. It was very much a cultural thing. Not a slight on her or any of the other females. Merely his duty, as he saw it. “I am sorry; I seem to have a tin ear for other people’s feelings… Yosuke-san told me so before.” She turned to face him fully once more. “I will look into this card and report my findings to you. So… Do not worry about me. As our leader… I know you have a lot on your shoulders, so…”

She could not properly put into words how she, in turn, felt she wanted to protect the teens as much as they, seemingly, wished to guard her. She had no means to express that she needed to do this. If it were connected to the case, she would involve them. But if this turned out to be nothing more than a private matter, well, then she would do wat she needed to keep them from being embroiled in a clash on two fronts. For her, this would not be the first time that cases overlapped and possibly even intertwined. She would do what she needed to ensure their safety.

Suddenly he sat up straighter, his eyes going out of focus for a few moments. “Fortune, huh?” He smiled and his eyes settled back on her.

She nodded to him. “Call it what you wish, but, yes, maybe a stroke of luck that someone else is here to help you carry the burdens.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, pondering how to best approach the next step. “If you have some time still, and while we are here, why don’t we chat a little?” She smiled as he checked the time on his phone and nodded to her. “Ah, yes, there was something I wanted to ask you regarding some of the aspects of these murders. You seem to hold most information, or at least seem to be the one who brings all points everyone else has made together so far.”

“I try,” he said with an easy smile, which made her wonder yet again if he had the same effect of feeling safe and uneasy on everyone in their group. “What is it you need to know?”

 

 

 

 


	39. Chapter Thirty-Nine - Communications Six

Receipt Date: October 29th, 2011

Delivered-To: Shriogane, Naoto - shiroganenaoy

Subject: Re: Inaba

From: Shriogane, Y F - [ShiroganeYF@gmail.com](mailto:ShiroganeYF@gmail.com)

To: Naoto-kun - [shiroganenaoy@gmail.com](mailto:shiroganenaoy@gmail.com)

 

* * *

 

I have had this email as a draft for a number of days now, dear. I will send it now, even if it is somewhat fragmented. I will try to call soon.

~Grampa

 

Good morning, my dear.

Your evaluation of my state of affairs is accurate, as I would expect from you. Moreover, to quell your fears - yes, I am quite safe and secure. I have yet to even been suspected to be involved in the internal investigation.

In addition, yes, Yakushiji-san would have impaired my act of old, language deficient, kindly old Japanese government representative.

Please pardon the long silence; I will explain soon what has transpired out here. For now, all I can tell you is that my gambit paid off and I have slowly been able to direct the internal investigation; as well as managed to bring the original case which lead me here to a close already. Of course, having this much traction on the formerly blocked case means I am now in a race against time to ensure we catch the ones who held up that investigation in the first place. I have not enjoyed myself so thoroughly in a while.

I have not yet had the time to speak to Yakushiji about the security concerns back home. Have you had time to speak with him yet? Do you feel I need to contact someone to assist him? If you need anything, or if you need access to our finances or similar, you do have the needed data back at home in our secure servers.

How did your exams progress? You mentioned studying with fellow students. I would assume they had nothing but the greatest benefit from the guidance you offered, dear. I am proud that you would take it upon yourself to ensure others will raise their academic standing. Do you know how they stood after their own exams yet? Did your senpai approve of your efforts?

I am concerned your case seems to have not moved at all. It is contrasting to your general form to face such a drastic hold-up. Once my case here winds down and I return to Japan, I will be more than happy to offer suggestions to your case. I would rather not have you send your reviewed files out here, as I am still making sure that my American colleagues will not identify me as anything but a concerned official reviewing the death of a countryman.

I have also noticed you seem more affectionate in your correspondence of late. I am never quite sure what your own emotional state is, dear. Are you well? Not that I mind it, I am enjoying the additional attention. I have missed such small signs of love greatly in the past years.

 


	40. Chapter Forty

**October 29th, 2011**  

   

Going merely by what the other members of the team had stated about the festival up until today, things could have been much worse.

Naoto had submitted her draft for the work on the … play… her class was assist in performing. After several comments about their lacking enthusiasm on the material; and, admittedly, some of the comments being on the terse side of things, Naoto had excused herself from the role of director for the play. Her teacher had been impressed that she had even managed to produce a play based on the concept the classes has proposed and after the junior Shirogane’s mounting aggravation became clear as daylight, had been happy to inform her that she could excuse herself to explore some of the other classes’ exhibits.

The haunted house held no interest to her. It’s not that she was unnerved by these things, not at all. After all, everyone knew that they would try to employ mere jump-scares; disguise edibles as guts and brains and similar such material. She had felt that real intestines felt like, while trying to hold the stomach wound of a knifed victim shut several years ago. She simply chose to not expose herself to such dubious thrills when it was not a true matter of life and death for her or another involved person. That was all. She did not have a problem with haunted houses. No.

The junior Shirogane wandered past the Maid Café that Rise’s class had created and shuddered. Tucking her cap lower, she hurried past it. Rise Kujikawa had suggested running shifts together on the last day of the festival, to ‘really draw in the crowds’, and Naoto still had no idea why she of all people had been conscripted for this. This was not even her own homeroom class!

_Maybe simply leaving this floor for now is a good idea. Our senpai certainly have much more elaborate and culturally relevant setups._

Pushing her way past fellow students and visitors, Naoto made her way to the second-year floor. Half way up the flight of stairs, she found herself in the wake of a fellow student, making her progress that much easier. A whiff of leather and sandalwood made her tip her head up sharply only moments later. She saw the jacket of the school uniform loosely hang from the shoulders of the very tall student before the bluenette.

Kanji Tatsumi trotted up the stairs. Right in front of her.

Not that she _minded_ , as such. She simply had not considered him being in front of her. Moreover, she had not considered what topics of conversation to pull forth should she run into him today. Especially not since his very awkward reaction to the idea that the girls would be part of the pageant. She had yet to consider how to best address this with him – or if it was needed to even have such a discussion.

They reached the floor and when he turned to his right, she promptly turned left. The area overlooking the shoe lockers below had a haphazard, disjoined mess of poorly decorated signs pointing out the different classes and their work; as well as a deep blue tent decorated with stars. The sign on the tent declared it to be _The Long-Nosed Fortune Teller_. Something drew her to the tent, but she could not find any reason as to why. It was plain, there was no queue, no excited voices hawking the shop. There was further no indication which class had set up the tent. Was this something the teachers had created?

The young detective was about to enter, when a strong but warm female voice told her: “This is not where you should be right now. My guest will entertain you for a little while, if you go to his classroom right now. Go on. Turn back, to where the young Tailor-Emperor just went.”

Naoto took another hesitant step towards the marquee, but wavered to enter. “You know of Kanji Tatsumi?”

“I know of many of you, Fortunate Detective. And trust me; you will wish to listen in to the _Group Date Café_ right now…”

Unsure why her feet reacted, Naoto found herself turning towards her Senpai’s classroom. Something in the way this woman spoke seemed to set her body into motion. A refusal was never an option in what she asked you to do. Fascinating. She would definitively return to her before the festival was over.

As she reached the door to the classroom of her senpai, she heard voices from the inside. She gently pushed open the door near the stairways and tucked her cap down as she leaned on the wall beside it.

She crossed her arms when she heard Kanji-kun’s confused voice. “Actually, what the hell is this?”

A very defeated-sounding Hanamura-senpai answered him. “A mock group date...”

 _A group date?_ Naoto was very much unfamiliar with the concept. She looked up and down the hallway, saw only few fellow students, and turned to peer through the barely-opened door.

The class room very much looked like a café. Desks and chairs were arranged in a manner that invited groups to sit down and chat. On one table Naoto made out her female senpai and the bright silver hair of their leader; on the other- She ducked back. The other side had Hanamura, Tatsumi and another boy she had seen, but did not know personally.

An unknown voice spoke up from inside, and she assumed this was him. “I-I guess it's my fault for bringing up the shill thing, a-haha…” His laugh sounded desperate and false. “Uhm. O-Okay, out of the three of us here...Wh-Who would you date?”

An outraged voice raised a complaint, which Naoto missed because she pressed both her hands to her mouth; her eyes all but popping out of their sockets. Was _this_ how group dates worked? _This is no courtship; this is a trial in utter embarrassment!_ How could any attraction be found in this kind of discussion?

“…so let's start with you, Chie-san.”

Naoto gazed up and down the hallway once more, then opened the door just a fraction wider, leaning closer to the door to hear her flustered senpai’s response. “Huh!? Wait, um...A-Ahaha...Uhhh, well...”

A female voice she could not place said something quite demurely and Naoto frowned. Was there another girl in the room?

She heard the slightly panicked squeak of her elegant female senpai next. “M-Me!? U-Um, who would I choose to date...? Well...Th-That's private...”

“Isn't it!?” an outraged Satonaka supplied.

After a brief pause she heard Amagi-san once more. “Okay...your turn.” She could almost see the girl shift, stroking her skirt and sitting up taller, more regal. “Who would you want to date?”

“Yosuke.” That strange female voice again. Naoto frowned.

Her mystery was solved when she heard Hanamura groan, “Okay, we get it! You're good at role-playing! Now quit it! You're creeping me out, partner...”

Naoto’s face flushed red with the effort to keep her voice down as a severe case of the giggles tried to claim her. The image of her two male senpai trying hard to flirt, or, well, one of the trying to flirt while pretending to be a girl… that simply was an image that was just too precious to not picture – in every possible detail.

“There are many forms of love...Didn't you tell me something like that?”

She tilted her head. Tatsumi-kun’s voice carried a gentle rumble as he tried to keep an even, respectful tone towards his senpai. Hard as that must be for the boy at times, seeing just how much he could enrage over the snide remarks the former gave him at times.

“No! Not at all!” There was a grunt… a pause. And then, “Hm. Well, I admit, I'm pretty dependable...and decent lookin', right?”

She heard the sigh of one of her female senpai and rolled her eyes in sympathy.

The sudden silence was broken when Kanji cleared his throat. “Do you, uh, have hobbies?”

“Y-Yeah, I guess,” Chie jumped in. “Let's see... I'm really into Kung-Fu... But I mainly just watch it!” She dissolved into a nervous titter, which abruptly stopped again. “Christ, this is embarrassing.”

The sporty girl’s best friend seemed wish to save her. “Uhm, I have... a hobby. See, I defeat shadows-“

As Naoto’s eyes widened in shock, she already hard the unknown male’s voice. “Shadows? What's that?”

“That's not really a hobby!” raged Yosuke right on top of that voice. Silence snapped back and Naoto assumed her be-headphone'd senpai was the center of attention. “So uh, Part-errr,ricia! What's your hobby?” His voice cracked in desperation, possibly realising the moment he said it, that trying to turn his casual address of ‘Partner’ into ‘Patricia’ was absolutely not working for him.

The junior Shirogane sighed. She let her gaze wander back to the tent, unsure why she even followed along with this silly directive. Was there really anything she could gather from standing outside this door like a child which had been removed from the dinner table?

_noreallylistenlistennow_

Sighing at her Persona, Naoto leaned back to hear Amagi-senpai ask, “So what type of girls are you into?”

Against better judgement, Naoto cocked an eyebrow in interest and turned her head to listen closely. Maybe Yu would speak up- ah, no, he seemed to be playing a girl. _Why was he posing as a female here?_

“Ah, straight to the point! I do like that.” Smugness dripped from Hanamura’s voice. “Let me tell you what I'm int-“

“Okay, Kanji, you're next." If his voice was smug, the voice of her sporty senpai was a mix of annoyed and bored. 

“ _I’m still talking here_ ,” Yosuke attempted to throw in, but Kanji already was clearing his throat.

“Shuddit, senpai,” he rumbled. Naoto found herself trying to open the door just that extra bit more, wondering what he would say. “Ah, well... I mean… I guess... 'm into the mysterious type, y’know? Like… Girls that come across as strong, but deep down they're-“

“ _Oh_ , I wonder who _that_ could be,” drawled their team Ninja. Never before had Naoto wanted to have more physical means to silencing her senpai. Not that she needed to. Moments later, as she worked up the nerve to peer into the classroom once more, she found Kanji holding Hanamura by the collar, one fist pulled back in a threatening motion.

And this was when she pulled back again, leaning beside the door with a puzzled frown. _Why_ did she feel like silencing her senpai there? Certainly, finding out more about Kanji Tatsumi would help her in understanding him better. Possibly also help her in finding out what is between him and Kujikawa, sure. But was she _really_ interested enough in his thinking that she would have …

_I mean… it does not truly matter in the end what kind of female companionship he favoured._

_listentoyouIknowyouarecurious_

_Sukuna-Hikona, really, now is not the time to ramble._

_youknowyouarecuriousabouthim_

_Well, of course I am. He is a… precious friend. And I have very few companions close enough to call that._

_ishereally?_

_I beg pardon?_

_isheyourfriend?_

Naoto blinked at that thought. _I… yes, I hope so? Do you feel I may have been too brash in recent days…?_

As so often when she was hoping to receive a reply to a question, her Persona suddenly fell silent.

Still frowning, Naoto glanced down the hallway – and saw Rise Kujikawa wave at her, before she ducked into the other, wide-open door. From inside the classroom her voice piped up.

“Senpai, how're you doi--“ The idol’s voice tapered off and she fell silent, before falling into a short, nervous laugh.”Uhhh, ahahaha... Yeah. W-Well, see ya!” Naoto watched her walk backwards from the entryway and bolt quickly down the hall, the opposite way.

As she heard the hurried steps of the idol rush from the room, she herself turned and headed towards the tent once more. She stopped before the tent flap, wondering if there was someone getting a fortune read right then.

As she still waited, the warm voice spoke up again from the inside. “What did you think?”

Naoto looked around the hallway, but it seemed no one was paying her or the tent any attention. Crossing her arms and gazing at her shoes, she replied softly, “It felt quite a bit like a waste of time.”

“On whose part, Fortune?”

She frowned, both at the question and at the address. Maybe the one inside saw everyone asking for fortunes as a part of fortune? “Courtship in such a setting seems counter-productive. Relationships need honesty; however, they also need to have secrets hidden so that the other can slowly discover them. Take Tatsumi-kun’s answers-“

“Yes,” the voice interrupted with a chuckle, “let us take him as an example…”

Naoto pushed her cap up, glanced around the hallway once more, then tucked her cap back down. “What he seeks, he is unlikely to discover with his current partner. He wants mystery, he wants insecurity, he wants … many a thing that seem to not be possessed by Rise Kujikawa.”

A thoughtful hum came from inside the tent.

“Further, his comment that there are many forms of love just seemed to dodge the question… as well as trying to get Hanamura-senpai riled up. He seemed to only wish to antagonize him at the point.”

“Possibly. But there may have been more, still. I suggest that you reflect upon his answer to whom he would consider attractive once more, Wheel of Fortune. The Lovers are not the Emperor's interest, though you and him together may hold an interest to the Lovers. Beware of their influence upon you…”

“You,” Naoto replied angrily, “just stopped making any sense.”

“Before the next week comes, you will remember this conversation, Fortune, and indeed spend a lot of time thinking back on it…” With that, she heard laughter which seemed to float away from her. Angered, the cobalt-haired girl stuck her arm into the tent flap and pulled it aside roughly to confront whomever was inside.

The tent was empty.

As she ducked inside, she found nobody there. Only a table and a chair behind it. Naoto kneeled, trying to find the loudspeaker which surely had to be installed somewhere, but she found nothing. Not under the table, chair, between the table cloth or anywhere on the inside of the tent. No matter how much she searched, nothing turned up. No speakers. No phone or similar communications device. It merely was an empty tent, set up for a non-present fortune-teller.

Leaving, she frowned and looked over her shoulder once more. Whatever this was, someone seemed to have just played a trick on her.

With a deep frown, she tucked her cap down and wandered the hallways. Before one class was a large display of tables showing off different forms of local pottery and attempts to recapture the traditional styles and craftsmanship.

Had she not been as distracted; she could have seen how some of the pieces came very close to their originals and the actual effort put into some if the vessels.

Had she not still been chewing on what she had overheard at the Group Date Café and the words the mysterious voice gave her from the tent, she might have noticed the students and visitors milling around her.

As it was, she also did not notice them in general …or Kanji Tatsumi in specific as he was stomping down the hallways and barrelling into her sideways; knocking her clean over and sending her stumbling to the ground.

As she curled sideways to lessen the impact, he lurched forward. "Oh, crap! Naoto, I-you okay?"

"I am fine." She grabbed her hat from the floor and tugged it back down on her head. Doing her best to not mutter darkly; the girl pulled her legs under her, trying to push herself up, one hand reaching up to grasp the side of the table next to her. "But, honestly, you should've-"

The tall boy interrupted by grabbing her hand and hauling her upright. Before her brains caught up, her body reacted on instinct to being grabbed and manhandled – with a somewhat off-balance kick to the shins in front of her.

Kanji jumped back with a yelp. "Ow! What was that for?"

Blushing furiously, she grabbed the brim of her cap and yanked it down to shield her face. "People are staring," she hissed furiously.

Admittedly, she was not certain they did, but they might as well. Being handled in the rough manner that Kanji Tatsumi inelegantly displayed frequently; combined with his infamy and her fame… She turned her head away from him, hoping he could not see how flustered she felt at their height difference. _He is just so… irritatingly tall._

"Was just tryin'a help," he muttered, his tone sulky.

She lifted her head marginally to glare at him. "And it was entirely unnecessary."

Facing one another, her with her chin tipped up and her body thrust forward to show him no fear; him with his shoulders rounded and his eyes flicking between starting into her eyes and glancing at the table beside them, they faced off.

Naoto kept the fire in her blood running… if only to ward off his outward care for her. Yes, she was about as short as Kujikawa. Maybe his protectiveness of his romantic partner coloured his approach to her as well. But if not by _now_ , then _when_ would he finally understand that she was more than capable of keeping her own self safe? A fall, as embarrassing as it was in public, was solved by standing back up. Having a member of the opposite sex reach for her hand and holding it in public…

_…holding it in public…_

Her glare morphed into barely contained embarrassment. She knew she blushed, even her ears started to feel warm! And _still_ she felt frozen, unable to move.

They were holding hands. In public. _On school grounds_!

Just milliseconds before she roughly pulled her hand away from him; Kanji jerked his arm back, releasing her just in time to avoid pulling her with him. "S-sorry," he choked.

_whatareyoudoingstopheisjustbeingfriendly_

"I-y-you-" Naoto managed. Her mind had jumped into a furious gallop; a dozen thoughts trying to push forward at once. Outrage, embarrassment, thankfulness – everything stormed into her at once. Added to that was the happy commentator in form of her Persona chirping along. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before she squared her shoulders. "We are blocking the corridor."

The girl turned and walked to the other side of the hallway, waiting along the wall. Why she waited for him, the young detective was not fully certain. Her mind was still awhirl and she needed a moment to collect herself properly. Simply storming off, as much as that could have solved the immediate problem of that dreaded blush, well, she could allow herself a few more moments of his company, if only to keep upholding her promise to Yu-senpai to be more sociable.

Behind her she heard, "Yeah. Right." Be the time she had turned to face him; Kanji shook his head and moved after her.

Naoto folded her arms and gazed at the ground. "Why are you out here and not assisting your class with their break room?" She knew her voice still seemed to waver a little, but keeping her eyes off the tall blonde helped steady her nerves. _Angry. Yes, that is it. I am still upset he jostled me._

"Th-they got enough people.” She saw him shuffle his feet. “And s'boring. An’ I was told, I ain’t a good host." He hesitated and sighed. "’s not like I’m missin’ out. They didn't even make the food."

She hummed and nodded, turning her back to the wall to lean against it. "Perhaps they did not know how. Cooking seems to be a rare talent among our colleagues. Even Narukami-senpai's abilities are questionable at times."

Naoto remembered the lunches she had heard about here and there. It seemed he wanted to show affection and care by sometimes sharing food with his peers; however, it was hit-and-miss. Chie-san mentioned to her that, should he ever invite her to share his lunch, she advised not leaving your own food at home.

At the mention of their senpai, she noticed his stance shift and she gazed up at him. His eyes had dulled and his shoulders had sunk lower still.

She turned her head away from him. It was obvious what was on his mind. He was worried his own skills would not rank highly in her mind. Nothing could be further from it, really. She had found her own meals, now that he had stopped visiting, to be lacking. Much like she would miss being back at the estate and enjoying the meals prepared by a chef for herself and her grandfather… but different. She did not wish for the boy to feel inadequate. Not, when his skills so clearly were more than merely passable.

"The-the food you brought, before I returned to school. I remember it being very good." Her arms unfolded and she watched as her fingers nervously toyed with each other.

“Th-thanks," she heard him mumble from above. Naoto shrugged, trying to at least let her compliment not carry a barb this time. "So, uh, what's your class doing?" he continued.

The girl sighed deeply and pushed her cap up. The conversation had left dangerous grounds and she wanted to, in time, be able to regard the boy. "My class could not select their own project, so we are assisting Class 2-3 in their production of Romeo and Juliet…and Hamlet." Naoto shook her head. "Illustrating the problem with decisions made by committee."

"Huh.” He sounded unsure as to what she meant, but continued, “Tha’s why people are runnin’ ‘round in costume?"

She nodded. "They _should_ be rehearsing, but we are significantly behind schedule. Our Hamlet has been arguing with Kashiwagi-sensei for the last half hour. Something about the cross-dressing… pageant."

The junior Shirogane swallowed. _So much for a safe topic; I have set my own snare and happily walked into it._

She lifted a hand and rubbed her face with a sigh. Since the girls had added the names of the boys to the list, she had not found the time to explain to him why he had suddenly shown up as a contestant as well. Feeling under-prepared for the entirety of the last day already, she now had to face this. There was still no answer in her mind and she was unsure how to pose the questions concerning his… outburst.

Naoto wanted his friendship. Out of the teens, Kanji Tatsumi possibly was the sole person in the team whom she felt she had a chance of bonding with. Never mind the fact that she still felt the burning urge to learn a combined attack with the tall teen. Being able to be utilised in that manner would make her only that much more useful.

"S'up?", the boy beside her asked.

Naoto lifted her head, meeting Kanji’s eyes. Embarrassment and worry tinged her voice and she felt her throat tighten as she forced out the next words. "The pageant. I was not-that is to say… Kanji-kun. I am so sorry. This… It-It was Rise-san's idea." Not only did she have to break to him that his romantic partner had put him into this situation, but she might end up sounded jealous or that she was trying to merely deflect blame. She hoped he could see this through the urgent truth she tried to bring forward.

But he simply nodded at her., holding her steady gaze. "Yeah, I know. Chie-senpai said so. Ain't blamin' you."

Relief flooded her so hard, she had to press her shoulder against the wall for support. "Yes. Yes, of course not.” She hesitated. “I had no involvement in this situation.” She glanced away and nibbled on her lower lip. While they were sharing… well. _I might as well clear his name in my mind._ “I further suspect that Hanamura-senpai also acted alone."

"Thass right."

Glancing away, she cleared her throat. She had been correct. He was not involved. Of all the qualities she started to discover in the young tailor, the one truth, that he was a dreadfully terrible liar, held true even now. He had not brought this upon her. Or Rise-san, naturally.

“Kanji-kun. If you are… about this matter, uhm…” She closed her eyes and sighed softly. "I could-I-I was considering talking to the school board once more.” She glanced at him sideways, then found herself gazing away. “I could present your case too."

He blinked. "You-you wanna get me outta it?"

His surprise lowered her resolve and she found her eyes unable to hold his gaze again. Her voice, thankfully, remained steady. "Two petitioners would carry more weight. It would not be any greater effort."

"Uh…th-thanks. Seriously. But my attendance record's a mess; it ain't worth rocking the boat." Kanji slammed his fist into his palm in an attempt of blustering bravado. "So I'm just gonna do the best job I can!"

Naoto hesitated for a moment, eyebrows quirked up in surprise. "That is…certainly enthusiastic."

"Well...y'know. The girls promised I'd look, uh, nice. Rise, see, she's doing makeup and stuff."

 _Ah, yes. Rise-san. Naturally._ The idol would by now have secured the support of her boyfriend and made sure that he would not flee or in other forms try to escape this situation. As such, she just nodded and clasped her hands behind her back. "I am sure you will do quite satisfactorily."

Something that had been nagging in the back of her mind suddenly pushed forward to take centre stage in her thinking. Like a distant echo, the memory of his words were still burned into her mind. " _Um...I beg you, please be in it. If you do, my, uh, doubts will finally be cleared..."_

Even with all the interest the idol-on-hiatus lavished on the boy; he seemed to have an elevated interest in the cobalt-haired girl and her appearance at the festival.

She paused, her gaze shifting first towards the floor; then slowly inched up along his leg, trying to keep his feet in view. Body language, she told herself, that was all. She merely wanted to see his reaction to her question. Regarding his face openly would be more revealing, certainly, but… that could go both ways, couldn’t it? But maybe addressing his outburst directly would be lacking in tact. She could always deflect to the words of others, however.

"Kanji-kun…what Rise-san and, and Hanamura-senpai said yesterday. Regarding the girls' pageant." She swallowed and hoped her cap was low enough to hide her face from him. "W-why would my participation concern you?"

It was … concerning, for a great number of reasons. For one, Rise-san insisted on a budding friendship with her. That could turn complicated, should Kanji Tatsumi feel some kind of personal interest in her. She fidgeted at the thought. Any interest at all, really. She had been involved in too many misconduct analyses focussing on the acts of lawbreaking or violence born from the human fear of losing a cherished someone. In addition, friendships mattered little if such feelings arose, it seemed.

However, on a much more personal level, it concerned her as well. She was… well, she was not anyone who had to worry about any male interest directed at her. Her male persona had kept interested parties away as much as her striving for a higher maturity level and her generally less welcoming nature. Not only that, but she did not precisely display dainty feminine mannerisms or behaviour. There was no logical reason for him to-

Well. In any case.

When he started to shift his feet, she felt frost crawl down her spine. Not looking up at him started to feel like a challenge before he finally spoke up. "F-f-figure-s'a new experience, yeah? And-and you're-" His voice cracked, barely noticeable, before he recovered. "You're pretty popular."

Nevertheless, his answer was reassuring. She lifted her head and greeted his flustered look with a frown. "With girls. And it-it isn't popularity when they aren't…" She trailed off into a grimace. "They are hardly even my friends. Most of them do not even _know_ me."

Her thoughts were being pulled back to the boy before her. His eyes still did not meet hers as he spoke. "But they like you."

The memory of her rant at her two female senpai moved forward for a moment.

_"There is no Naoto Shirogane, Detective Prince! There is no he. There is no need to hold on to the professions of love towards a fictional character!"_

Even if her reveal had been semi-public and so far, the rumours still were so far mostly contained… Naoto found that she still struggled with the loss of that image; still struggled with trying to hold on to the fictional character that the girls loved and the boy loathed. Pulling away from that cover, moving away from the Detective Prince; as much as the girl desired it on one hand, because the falsehood of it felt more and more stifling… She did need the concealment the lie provided. The Detective prince, as fake as he was, was her shield against a world she simply had no other means of addressing.

Even if Tatsumi had a more personal interest, even if Rise Kujikawa would not play into this…

Her voice sounded small and frail to her own ears when the girl finally spoke. "I do not desire to be in the pageant, Kanji-kun." She glanced up at him for a moment, then away again. "I-I'm sorry." _Not even for the only person I consider a friend in his building._

"Why-?"

"It simply is not appropriate. And I-Yukiko-senpai and Rise-san are far more suited to that sort of thing.” She gazed at the rows of pottery across the hallway, her arm moving in a restless circle. “Chie-senpai will also do well. Rise-san has informed me that she is well regarded among male students. I have no doubt in my mind that each of them will find they have more admires than they may have first realised. As for myself, I-I am not…” She swallowed and crossed her arms. “Well, as I said, it is inappropriate."

His voice sounded oddly strained when he spoke. "You-you don't hafta enter. Or 'pologize if you don't," he quickly added. "N-not like it matters, y'know?"

"No. Of course not," she said quietly, still unable to look at him. The odd feeling she had at times around his presence intensified again; a strange feeling of flight-or-fight. In a way she did not understand, both he and Yu-senpai seemed to test her, and she had yet to figure out how to deal with it.

"I-I think you'd do great if you did. But s'okay if you don't." There was a beat of uneasy silence, then, sounding oddly upbeat, he added, "'Sides, maybe you can ask 'em to hold another cross-dressing one. 'Mister' Yasogami High."

Her frown melted and her strange fear subsided when he brought up the idol. They must have previously discussed this. "Rise-san suggested the same. I suspect I would prove to be the only entrant."

"Ah, Rise'd join in too. You'd still win."

"I would be ashamed if I didn't," she answered, the corners of her lips curving into a tiny smile. She flicked her gaze up at the tall boy and they shared a moment to defuse the tense situation they had brought themselves into. Knowing she was not endangering her friendship with him; or the budding one with Rise… it put her at much-needed ease once more. It was pleasant while it lasted. Remembering her upcoming duties still, her mirth vanished shortly thereafter. "I should return to work. Even if rehearsals are delayed, I have to help prepare the stage." She sighed. "Unfortunately, Ohtani-senpai is playing Juliet and the balcony has not proved as sturdy as first thought."

Kanji nodded. "Uh, okay. Good luck," he said - then, as she was about to turn away, added, "And thanks, yeah? For, for offering to-y'know. The school board. I-I know it was just convenient - but still."

Naoto glanced up at him for a moment. It would have been more than convenient, but his reasoning to request her not being involved had made much more sense than her own needs. She nodded once in reply, then turned and walked away.

Only a few short minutes later, the chaos of mushing up two works of drama without turning them into too much of a comedy pushed most of her encounters of the day into a deeper part of her mind.

Sukuna-Hikona giggled softly to himself as he reviewed the last hour, before turning into a small ball of content pleasure; helping the young Shirogane to keep her composure for most of that afternoon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, a huge thank-you goes to @Crossbowfinger here on AO3 for making everything better by reading it before you guys get it. 
> 
> Wow, chapter forty already, and we are not even half-way through the content of Shortest Distance! My chapters tend to me much, much smaller than ZD's were in the main work, and I have a number of filler chapters, such as the Communications interludes.
> 
> Also, by now many of you have noticed (and even mentioned) that certain things have not come up, even though they were in Golden. I promise this has a reason and these things will not go untold, but I am planning ahead a bit here. This fic is far from over; like I said, we are barely at the half-way marker now. A LOT of stuff is still coming, and I am preparing for a long stretch of darkness up ahead.


	41. Chapter Forty-One - Interlude Three - Kanji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Kanji watches Naoto and Teddy wander off for their part of the contest, his thoughts waver between excitement for the contest and absolute dread. That the remaining girls all seem moody does not help him, either.

**October 30th, 2011**  
  


Ever since Naoto walked away from the group with Teddy, Kanji felt his gaze pulled back to the doors.  _Where in the heck did they go, they have been gone forever now..._

It’s not like he was jealous. Not really. Not that he’d admit it, anyhow. Sure, he kinda did hope Naoto would hang around. Having her near would have encouraged him to try harder. The front he had put on yesterday, seeming all hyped up and ready to go? Yeah. That had pretty much evaporated this morning when he had looked at his dress.

In all honesty, he really had worked miracles, given the tiny amount of time he had had with the pictures Rise had sent him. The plaid dress needed to be airy and flowing and yet fall in thee right places without drifting too much. In the end, it looked okay enough at a distance, it could possibly fool someone who casually looked at it, but he saw every flaw, every mistake, every wrong step he had taken in making the damn thing.

Not like Naoto would know. Or notice. She still did that weird thing at times, when she looked at him like he was a bug under a magnifying glass. A little bit interested. And a little bit wondering if it needed to be squished.

"Kanji, stop daydreaming and lend a hand over here!" Yukiko waved him over and smiled brightly. "Please?"

"I still need ta do my own stuff, y'know," the tall blonde muttered as he walked slowly to his senpai.

From across the room, handing Chie a small cosmetics kit from the look of it, Rise called out to him. "You're fine, Kanji-kun, I'll have you sorted out in no time flat once we get started! I'm a professional after all."

For a moment, Kanji thought Yukiko tensed up at the comment. "Yes, well, against a  _professional_ , I'll need all the help I can get, of course," the girl muttered darkly, handing Kanji a long, grey-haired wig and a brush. “See if you can untangle this, Kanji-kun.”

Yu sighed unhappily and struggled into the short school uniform top that Yukiko had picked out for him. "I'm really not sure I look all that good in this, Yukiko..."

"You will be stunning, Yu-kun. Besides, you picked this yourself; it was your idea to cosplay someone. Hrm. But I am not sure we will find a  _shinai_ ; Yasogami never had a Kendo-club."

Kanji zoned out at this point. Who really cares about any of that shit? Even if he had been looking forward to any of this at all, by now he was really only interested in one thing: How quickly he could get out of all of this.

Actually, that wasn't really true. He also kinda wanted to know: How he'll look when Naoto sees him. Yeah, sure, he had made a whole song and dance about  _If we gotta do it, we gotta do it great_ ; but what good would it do even if he did impress every other student at school... if really only one person counted? And that one person hated the very idea of this contest.

Moving his hand to brush the wig as if on autopilot, he let his thoughts drift.

Naoto had offered to get him out of this. Had she offered anyone else, too? She seemed pleased for some reason when he told her he had not been involved in setting the girls up for this. And she immediately believed him. That meant a lot to him, really. Like, with how people normally called him a punk and stuff? She didn’t even seem to doubt his words once. She just nodded, accepted what he said, and said she had a feeling that was the case. She hadn’t even suspected him!

A smile bloomed on his face at the thought.  _That kinda means she trusts me, yeah? …then again…_  The smile faded and he started to frown. That was maybe a bit much. Like, if she trusted him, why’d she always do her best to keep him away?

Take how she spoke to him, right? Even though she now said  _Kanji-kun_ , and, yeah, that kinda felt nice and all, but the way she said it still made him hear  _Tatsumi-kun_. It was almost like he could hear it whenever she talked to him. Possibly because of how she always puffed up when she stood next to him. What, did she still think she needed to expect him to suddenly go punk on her tiny ass and try to-

Someone took his hands to stop him combing the wig and he gave a grunt of confusion to the owner of the hand removing the brush from him, Yukiko. "Whassat?"

"I said, if you do it that roughly, Yu will have bald spots," the Amagi-heiress giggled. "I think it's good now, really. We need to braid two pig tails now." She took the wig and plopped it on his admired senpai's head. Both Kanji and Yukiko stifled a chuckle.

"How do I look?" Yu tried to preen, the wig ajar and his hair still quite messy.

"Lemme put it like this, senpai, ya picked a bad hair day for beauty contests," Kanji grinned at his upperclassman.

Yukiko started to chat Yu up once more and she and Kanji took one side each to braid his wig. Kanji tuned out, letting his gaze roam.

The gods alone knew how he’d actually manage through any of this today. He had wanted to look forward to seeing Naoto on stage… but he kinda didn’t, not really. She did not want to be there, and knowing that ruined looking forward to her being on stage for him.

And his own time in the spotlight wasn’t something he wanted to look forward to, either. It was stupid. Why did Kashiwagi even allow this? What would she get outa this? Not like it even was a good idea for any of the boys. …unless.  _Man. If Hanamura had signed Naoto up for the guys. That woulda been kinda awesome. And really, really not helping with the whole questions thing._

As if thinking of the boy summoned him, he suddenly heard a loud complaint from Yosuke, something along the lines of not needing make-up for his natural beauty and an even louder reply from Chie that make-up wasn't even on the top ten things he would need to win. When he glanced over and saw the get-up his annoying senpai was stuck in, he gave a quick thumbs-up at Chie. She might not quite know why, and Kanji would not aloud say 'Thanks for upping my chances'; but she winked at him none the less, before trying to pull Yosuke's hair into twin tails again.

See, with Naoto, he'd not have these issues. She'd just tell him what to do, he'd do it, no questions asked. She was technically cross-dressing all the time, wasn't she? ... _Does she wear make-up? Good make-up makes you look as if yer not wearin' any at all... an' if she's that good, Teddy will look awesome. Damnit._

"Kanji-kun, stop dreaming about your prince and get that braid done, I need to start on you soon," Rise trilled from across the room.

"Shut it, Rise, I wasn't even-" he started on reflex.  _How_  he gave himself away he didn't know, but Rise just gave him that knowing smile, as if she had read his every thought. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be done in a sec..."

Yu seemed to make a point of not looking at him, but Yukiko gave him a small, gentle smile. "You'll look great, Kanji-kun, no matter who you want to impress today."

"Not you, too," he groaned. "Look, senpai," Kanji said, looking at both of them, "I jus' wanna get this done with so that I can get out on stage, get voted on, and get off again." He stood back and frowned at Yu. "Y'know, Yukiko-senpai... I think his wig would look better in an open cascade. These tails draw attention to his eyes too much."

The beautiful black-haired girl turned to her classmate at once. "See, Yu-kun?” She turned her head to look up at the other boy. “I said the same, Kanji-kun," she sighed, "but he said he has a certain look in mind." Shaking her head, she resumed working on the brain on her side.

"What are you going to wear, big guy?" The snicker in the voice told him it was Yosuke without even looking across the room at the other boy.

"Wouldn't ya like to know!"

"Kanji-kun made a dress based on a picture I gave him. You guys don't stand a chance, between my make-up and his sense of how to make anything look great, he will win this." Rise bubbled far too happily while returning from laying out Yosuke’s make-up. Smiling, she leaned down to Yu. "Sorry, senpai," she purred at him, "but I don't think even you can win this with your handsome face."

Yukiko's eyes narrowed and Kanji felt he was standing way, way too close to her. He could practically feel the air around her grow hot and dry. "I-I need ta check on my dress, actually!" He ducked away and hurried to the large garment bag he had brought with him today. It would be the thousandth time today he checked in on his dress. Every time he looked over the damn thing, he wished he had brought some proper sewing kit to fix this or correct that. All he had on him was the small pocket thing, that pretty much is barely enough to put a button back on if he popped it.

"Ugh, Chie, no, stop!"

Curiously, Kanji leaned forward a bit, trying to see Chie and Yosuke. His back was to him, so he could only see Chie with a very large brush in one hand. "You need blush! Heck, you'll need all the blush I can put on you. Seems like nothing I do will make you pretty."

"Using a spatula to put paint on my face isn't going to help me any! Don't you know that you are only supposed to use a little bit?" The second-year's voice skipped higher in upset.

"Well, normally it's used to enhance beauty, but in your case, we need to start by  _creating_  beauty..."

" _And what is that supposed to mean?!_ "

Rise stopped beside Kanji with a smirk. "You got this, Kanji-kun. Everyone else is  _so_  helpless!"

He just nodded towards Yosuke. "Who knows, maybe all he needs is some perfume."

"Oooh, good idea!"

"Rise, no! I-" He sighed.  _Whatever. Nobody is going to smell it, anyhow._  With a sigh and a shake of his head, Kanji put his packed-up dress on a table and returned to Yu and Yukiko. "Ya need me still?"

Before Yukiko was able to reply, there was a masculine screech, a couple of coughs and sneezes, and finally a groan from the other side of the classroom. "No, I… I think I can handle the rest, Kanji-kun. Thank you." Yukiko smiled a bright, fake smile, doing her very best to ignore the other side of the room. "Go on and do your best!"

He nodded, scuffing the back of his head, before pulling out his shoes. They looked pretty much like the ones on Rise's picture, but much larger and way, way more sturdy. He beamed at them, highly pleased.

Rise, however, was another matter. "What in all gods’ names is  _that_?" She picked up one of the metal-wrought shoes and held it doubtfully in both hands. "These things weigh a ton, Kanji!"

"Well, yeah, I needed to show I am man somehow! An' these will almost be, like, a workout for my legs!"

The idol's worried eyebrows climbed even higher and she shook her head slowly. "Have you tried these on yet?"

"Well, no, I only jus' got 'em from-"

"Oh Kanji. You'll absolutely  _ruin_  your feet. You can't wear socks with these; they are open-toe!"

"I can't?"

Sighing deeply, Rise gathered both shoes up and hurried to her bags. "I think I carry some cushions for heels. We will need those. And I need to teach you how to walk in these. You can't just put on heels and walk around like you're in sneakers!"

He waved off her concern with a scowl. "Yeah, yeah, it's okay. Ma said heels are a bit like  _geta_. My weight needs to be at the front."

Rise gave him a surprised look. "Have you worn those before?"

"Well,  _geta_ , yeah? I mean, when I go to the summer festival, Ma an' my old man always dressed traditionally, so I liked to as well."

"But... you only wore jeans and a shirt this year."

"Well... y'know..." He glanced around and sighed. "I'm also pierced and blonde now."

"Oh... right," she giggled, "yeah, that would clash. Well, okay, but let me fix up these shoes for you. Else you'll have murderous blisters tomorrow."

"NO, CHIE, I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

With that shout, Yosuke dashed past them, and Kanji choked on his next breath. A solid wall of vanilla scent followed the Junes-Prince and even the air swirls as Chie raced after him did not clear anything up. Kanji coughed a hearty lungful of perfume.

Even Rise coughed, if not as loudly. "Maybe I overdid it just a little with the good stuff," she mused quietly, peeling a small gel padding sticker off a strip of paper and applying it to Kanji's hand-forged heels. Speaking up a bit louder she asked, "Where did you even find these?"

"Deidra," he offered as explanation. The impressed, pout-like expression on her face almost made him smile.

He barely glanced at Yosuke as Chie dragged him back inside and pushed him into a chair.

Kanji’s mood darkened steadily. He really didn't want to do this. He really did not want to be an idiot in front of Naoto. She was always so calm, so serious, so put-together. No matter how he would try this, he’d just make himself look like a moron, right?

Then again, Naoto didn't wanna do this, either. She tried to get out of the whole thing - even had offered to try and help him get outa it. But she was going to do it, he thought, and if nothing else, then he has to try.

But he really, really didn't feel it any longer.

"You'll hurt so much. Promise me you'll do that foot-bath!"

"Huh?"

Rise frowned and slapped his chest. "New shoes! You never wear new shoes for any important event, you dummy! It's, like, the worst idea! Next time you buy new shoes, you wear them in around town or something."

Kanji just stared at her. "Ya thinkin' I'd wander 'round town in those?"

Rise paused, her eyes gazing into nothing, before she had a small giggle-attack. "Okay, yes, maybe not with these." She sighed and handed him his heels back. "I did what I could; I hope it'll keep the worst away."

He took the shoes, nodded and put them beside his dress. “Rise… uh… ya think ya can show me… y’know… how to walk in these? Like, just make sure I look okay?

“Oh Kanji-kun, of course! Look, stop fretting, you’ll be awesome!”

“Yeah, well… don’t need awesome. Jus’ need to be able ta not look like an idiot for a few minutes.” He frowned at his shoes, then at her. “Anyhow… thanks and stuff.”

“Sure thing!” She looked away, not wanting her to actually make him blush. She loved doing that and he hated it. "So," he heard her say beside him.

"So what?"

"Your dashing Prince never made it out of the contest, from what I heard." She eyed him. "You must be so glad~"

"Yeah, she kinda got stuck with it." He frowned, then glared down at the idol. "And she hates that name!” Glancing to one side, his mind running after the conversation to catch up, he finally added, “And… an' it's not funny, okay? She really doesn't wanna do this. She's unhappy with it."

"Kanji, she will be fine, she’s just being shy. Shy, blushing detective prince; how cute is that?"

He blinked at that. He had seen Naoto blush here and there, but in general she seemed to just do that when she got upset or angry. Would she blush? Like, get all cute and shy and stuff? Would she look cute or even give him those eyes Rise sometimes did to tease him? "Yeah... very cu- DAMNIT RISE!!" He turned to glare at her while she giggled at him. "This isn't funny! I know you like bein' on stage, but this is Naoto!"

"Well, you asked her so nicely, though," she trilled, snuggling against his arm. He jerked away and glowered at her light laugh. "She also never told you ‘no’ or turned your request down. You know. What you said on the roof."

"Yeah, well, she tried to get out. Even offered me to try an' get me outa this shit, too!"

Rise looked surprised, then shrugged. "Remember, she thinks about stuff, she'll remember what you said and she'll think on it over and over and over and  _over_..." She trailed off, making small wave-like motions with her fingers. "I'm sure she's thinking about it right now!"

"Right now," Kanji snarled at her happily grinning face, "she's thinkin' about how ta make Teddy passable. Speakin' of which, go help Yosuke-senpai, I think he’ll look like a clown soon." With that, he turned his back on her and tried to stomp away.

His heavy steps took him to Yu, who still tried to squeeze into a short skirt. "Damnit, senpai, I told ya: Yer legs aren’t made for that. Hold on..." Kanji turned and dug through the nearest box, pulling out a long, dark skirt. "Try this. It'll go much better with yer legs, damnit."

"Kanji is right, senpai," Rise trilled from beside Chie-senpai, "you'll rock that skirt!"

Yosuke stared daggers between the two girls and his two buddies. "Yeah, well, both my partner and I are working our asses off here. You've not even changed yet, Kanji!"

"Shuddit, senpai," Kanji growled, "I'm tryin'a help you two get ready. Rise said I'll be lookin' better than you two losers in no time!" With that, he flexed an arm at them, and turned to check on his dress.

"Chicken!" That clearly was Yosuke, again.

"I'M NOT CHICKENING OUT!" The young tailor glared over his shoulder, then turned to walk towards his outfit. "Jus', my dress, I'll need ... I can't change out here and senpai is using the changing room with Yukiko and anyhow, Chie-senpai is just what you deserve-"

" _What was that, Kanji-kun?!_ "  _Oh heck. I really don’t need to piss Chie-senpai off now…_

It was Rise who saved him; she stalked at his side, waving a hand at Chie. "Don't mind him, senpai, it's pre-stage nerves, newbies get like that!" Grabbing Kanji by the arm, she pulled him towards the windows to an empty chair, hissing up at him, "Do you have a death wish, Moronji? Geez. Stop being so grumpy." She produced a comb from somewhere and started attacking his hair, combing him this way and that.

"Ow! The hell are you doin'?"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have plastered yourself down in hair gel on the day you were going to wear a wig."

"A- what? A Wig?!"

"Of course, you can't look like a sex idol with THAT hair"

"I think my hair looks nice..."

"Not if you're going to be a girl. So where’s is your wig?"

"Oh... didn't... like, when you sent me that picture, I thought I only needed the dress and shoes. I am blonde already, after all."

She slapped his shoulder. "Yeah, your hair may be blonde, but it is  _way_  too short! I can never make you look like Monroe like this!" She tapped the comb to her leg, looking outside thoughtfully. "Oh, wait, let me get Naoto-kun to grab you one! She may be running to find one for Teddy, anyhow!"

Rise skipped away happily, dialling. If Kanji had any say in it, and it seemed he obvious that he didn't, he would have preferred to not invite Naoto back any longer. Sure, yes, he wanted her here earlier, but that was, what, at least ten minutes ago now! Having her gone actually helped steady his nerves a fair bit and... and...

_'And I kinda would have liked for her to see the finished deal, when I’m all pretty.'_

Putting her phone on speaker, Rise put it on the desk beside her and resumed trying to tame Kanji's hair.

The boy grunted as she pulled roughly. "Really, Rise, I think I'm totally fine with-"

The dial tone changed and cut out suddenly. "Rise-san?" Kanji’s mouth dried up.

"Naoto-kun!" Rise grinned at her phone and leaned in a bit.  "Where are you?"

"Um…the practice building. Should I be-"

"Great! Listen, I need a platinum blonde wig."

The other end of the line went quiet for a few moments, possibly while the junior detective filled in the blanks. "I assume this is for the pageant."

"Yep. I totally forgot about Kanji-kun's hair, can you believe it?" The comb caught on a tangle and Rise took the straight path: ripping the comb right through it. Kanji swore at her. With an exaggerated tsk, she continued towards the receiver, "He's being a big jerk about it too. One of Senpai's friends dropped by and said there's a box of wigs in the Home Ec room, she got them from drama club or something, I dunno - but I need a platinum blonde one, something that looks like-you know Marilyn Monroe, right? Everyone does! I love her movies, Yosuke-senpai downloaded some of the dubs for me, I'll give you the DVD sometime. Get something that'll make Kanji-kun look like her, okay? Like, longer than yours, but shorter than my hair? Thanks, Naoto-kun! You're the best!" She blew a kiss at the phone and snapped it shut before the other girl had time to protest her request.

"Yer so damn pushy," Kanji mumbled.

She simply resumed fighting the gelled mass on his head. "And competitive, Kanji-kun! You will be my entry, after all!"

"Your... entry?"

"Of course!" Leaving the comb stuck mid-stroke in his hair, she skipped in front of him and pumped her fists in excitement. "It'll be like a song contest or an idol show with competing idols! I am your producer, your manager; trying to make sure your time on the stage will blow everyone else out of the water!"

The young man had slowly leaned back as she enthusiastically leaned forward. "Sometimes, Rise, ya scare the spit outa me..."

"You'll be amazing, Kanji, just you wait!" She stepped back behind him and continued to happily yank at his hair. "You'll be the absolute Belle of the ball, and I will be your happy fairy godmother, nudging your prince at you!”

He just sighed softly. Kanji’s nagging suspicion that even if he declared his undying love to Naoto out on stage would be ruined by  _any_  outfit he would put on. Trying to confess while being cross-dressed wasn’t gonna make it a lick better. Only… he was in this now to make sure he got through it okay, maybe impresses some dudes with how pretty he looked, shut ‘em up a while, and then get out of this nightmare. The only thing this whole damn circus had done so far was curb his excitement at seeing Naoto all dolled-up for the pageant. If she felt anything as weird about it all as he did, heck, he might even reconsider ever asking her about it. He was miserable.

That Rise was starting to give him a headache by ripping out bushels of his hair did nothing to change his mood one sliver.


	42. Chapter Forty-Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto finds that applying makeup to a very willing bear is more than she could, well, bear. Leaving Teddie in the willing and capable hands of one of her senpai, she gets to play gopher for Rise, sees Kanji in a whole new way, and faces down with one of her female admirers. Who knows how long this day will be with her...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this is chapter of Distance Formula directly linking to a brilliant chapter of Shortest Distance. If you've not read it ((or not read it for some time)), I suggest you head over to read it first: [ Shortest Distance - 22, Interlude 5](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5337624/22/The-Shortest-Distance-from-A-to-B).

**October 30th, 2011, Early Afternoon**

 

With that, Rise hung up on her. Sighing, Naoto snapped her phone shut and hoped the girl would remember to breathe.

Turning back to where Ebihara and Teddy were working on his look, the girl blinked to herself. This day had gone from strange to weird and it seemed like it would continue to hurtle in that very direction for the rest of the events. They had met - well, no. They had run into Ai Ebihara, who offered to her to assist her with the task of 'dolling up' Teddy. She did not mind this, not really. After all, her own skills concerning make-up were limited at best. The young Shirogane did not even own much aside from a chapstick to help her through the winter frosts.

Naoto frowned at her watch. She flipped through a few options and ran a few numbers. She might need to run yet a bit more than she had thought.

"Ebihara-san?" the bluenette called out as she poked her head back inside the room.

"Mhm?" The older girl turned with a quizzical brow raised. "Was there something else?"

"Rise-san is asking for a wig; platinum blonde. Would you happen to-"

Her senpai had already turned back to Teddy, a flippant hand waving towards a wall. "No idea, check the box we dragged in earlier. I'll be busy for a while here."

Naoto nodded and skipped to the large box. It was abundantly filled with wigs and assorted costume-related items - bears, moustaches, rubber-baldness. Going purely by colour, Naoto dug through the box hurriedly. She had about 20 minutes for this, if she ran fast enough. Why Rise-san wasn't down here, checking herself; why she had to offer her dress to Teddy; why - why this whole day was as it was so, so...  _exasperating_  - Naoto did not know. She pulled out a few wigs of different silvers and whites, hoping beyond hope she could find something in the approximate direction of shade and length that Rise-san had directed her to find.

Grabbing three similar-looking ones, Naoto bolted from the room, leaving a joyful "See you soon, Nao-chan~" in Teddy's high voice behind.

She had forgotten to ask where Rise-san and Kanji-kun were, but in truth, there were only three places. Kanji-kun's classroom. Their senpai's. Or the auditorium. Their senpai's home room made the most sense, as most of the group hailed from there, so Naoto rushed up the back stairs, hoping to encounter as few other people as possible there. She was, after all, on not only one, but two errands now.

Apologising to two students she nearly ran into while trying to rush through the classroom door, she juggled the wigs, hoping to not drop one. "Rise-san?"

Struggling to keep someone seated whose back was turned to the door, Chie-senpai sighed, shaking her head. "Just went somewhere. What did you bring?"

Helplessly, the junior detective held up the three wigs in her arms.

Yukiko-senpai leaned around Yu-senpai and smiled. "Oh, for Kanji? Hmmm. That left one, I think."

Naoto held it up and shook it. "This one, correct?"

Her black-haired senpai nodded and turned back to address the boy seated before her with something. Naoto was about to just throw the wigs onto a table, when she heard Rise from somewhere outside the room.

She leaned into the hallway again and saw Rise plucking at a comb, trying to pick something out. As a very much hurried Naoto jogged nearer, she heard her mumble "Who needs so much gel in their hair, really?" before she happily waved at her. "Over here, Naoto-kun!"

"Rise-san," the cobalt-haired girl huffed, "I found something, but I am not sure this is what you were looking for, here-"

"Yeah, I think that middle one- oh, I need to go grab something else; can you look after Kanji-kun for me? I think he needs help with his shoes! Be a dear, check on him?" Before Naoto could complain, the idol turned another corner.

 _...be a dear? Rise must be in photo-shoot mode._  Naoto groaned. _Fine. I guess I will go check in on him, if only to guard him from the overbearing idol._  Sighing, glancing at her watch with a small cringe, Naoto turned back into her senpai's homeroom. Her four upperclassmen were busy and Naoto only saw motion at the walled-in area that she thought would be the 'changing room'.  _I may as well present the wigs to him,_  she thought, reaching out to brush aside the cloth that was used as a door.

The way the sheet moved before she even touched it made her think of the boy trying to move within the confined, low space.  _He is just too tall for the average solutions given, as always._

She ducked into the changing area, guessing all she needed to do was check in on him actually getting dressed and putting his shoes on.

She brushed past the sheet that functioned as a door-cover and looked up, starting to speak. "Kanji-kun, here is-"

"Dammit, Rise, I ain't fin-"

Naoto froze, her mouth hanging open, her eyes widening in shock, her mouth running dry. Kanji Tatsumi had, indeed, yet to put on his shoes. Or, for that matter, apply any make-up.  _Or_ , as it were, wear a lot of clothing of  _any_  kind.

He stood before her before her, a mess of cream-white clothing bunched up around his shoulders, wearing boxer shorts and- and nothing... else...

The girl blushed, trying to choke out an apology, stumbling backwards, her hand trying to find a way to brush aside the sheet-door blindly. Her hand was grabbed from behind and she heard the team idol happily chatter at her.

"Thanks, Naoto-kun!" she chirped, reaching around Naoto's shoulder and plucking the wigs from her other arm. "This'll be perfect once I clean the dust off. Help Kanji-kun with his dress, okay?"

In Naoto's poor, collapsing mind, words piled up uselessly as she scrambled for a way to communicate the many variable ways of explaining she would not,  _could not_!, stay in a small enclosed space with a barely dressed young man. The disgraceful noises of dismay that escaped her throat, mouth, and nose were thankfully not recorded for later generations.

All she truly was left with, was trying to turn around, shaking her head, trying and failing to form the idol's name; until she felt a very strong hand placed at the base of her rib cage from behind, and a light but commanding shove forward. Which put her within arm's reach of the team's very own apprentice tailor.

Her first attempt was trying to lower her gaze to the ground. This was halted by the border of his underwear and her head snapped up, staring forward at a set of lean, toned pectoral muscles. Her eyes snapped shut as she jerked her head up, trying to not peer past her lids until she felt the back of her head rest against her neck, sure that she would look at the boy when she opened her eyes again.

Tightly contracted, grey eyes gazed down at her, and he blinked, his hands still raised awkwardly towards his shoulders and neck, holding a mess of lightly coloured clothing.

Naoto blinked back. Twice.

_Would the old idiom of 'Try to act natural' work in this moment? What do you say to a man into whose changing chamber you have been pushed? 'How's the weather?', or maybe 'Did you like the dress you picked?', or, if all else failed, 'Can I help you find anything in a different colour?' Say something, Shirogane. Anything!_

"Um. What. What do you-"  _Yes. Nailed it._  She groaned and pinched her eyes shut again.

Either the pause or her words kicked him into action. He started to try and tug the dress down like a t-shirt over his head, starting to babble at the same time. "N-nothing! S'fine!" he yelled, and tried to yank the garb down over his head.

The girl re-opened her eyes and watched him for a moment, then uneasily glanced over her shoulder once more. He had not told her to leave. Rise-san had directed her to help him... but were their senpai still out there? Who else could have seen her walk in here after him? And what precisely was she supposed to do? She had never helped anyone get dressed before! A Shirogane is no handmaiden.

Hesitantly, she turned back to look at the boy, her mind reeling whenever she noticed far too much skin on him.  _Why is he still not dressed?!_

Unhelpful as ever, an amused presence entered her mind.  _stuckheisstuckthisistoofunny_

 _'Sukuna-Hikona-kun, if you have nothing helpful to say-'_  she sighed at the voice in her mind.

_youshouldhelphimRisetoldyoutohelp_

_'That is all fine and well...'_

If only she could find out how to actually best help the boy right now. That he was stuck was fairly clear; his body twisted this way and that in trying to find a way to cover himself. Naoto had tried to reach out to him several times already, but he twisted and writhed - and she kept running the risk of inadvertently touching way  _more_  of his lean body than she ever had been inclined to - this place was quite nearly public, after all! She quite certainly gave a rather comical display, trying to twist her body alongside his; trying to find a way to make him stop so she could properly reach and-

She suddenly noticed what was the root cause of this completely and utterly ridiculous situation. His entire problem was that about half of the dress had been pulled up and seemed bunched up together above his shoulder in a large knot of fabric.

With a quite undignified little hop, she grabbed the cloth and held on as she dropped back to her feet, tugging the balled-up cluster free. His arms and head popped out almost at once, but she had hastily taken a step back, willing the blush from her face; demanding of her body to slow her heart rate back down and to  _not_  look at him. She had a feeling neither of them could handle the embarrassment of that. Now... or ever.

As her teeth worried her lips, Naoto strained to listen to any sound or noise from outside their confined space. If their senpai had noticed or, worse, had heard, she was going to abandon school altogether and devote herself exclusively to her cases! As if this day could not get any worse...

Actually, his stunned silence did make it far worse for her. What was he thinking? That she had ogled him? That she had tried to seize him up perhaps?  _Oh, gods, if he thinks I had any kind of perversion in mind, I may just shoot myself right here._

_tooworrieditsokayitsokayjustexplain_

_'Yes, yes, of course...'_

"It was stuck. Your dress. I-I was simply-" The girl flinched, trying to spread her arms in a mollifying motion at the tall blonde. That she could not see his face without craning her head desperately far back did not help her remaining shreds of dignity at all.

"Th-thanks," Kanji stuttered. "For, uh, helping out."

He still sounded apprehensive, but also genuinely thankful. Naoto gave him a sharp nod of acknowledgement. A desperate flush crept up her face. "I-I apologise. I did not- I mean. For-For barging in on you." She pinched her eyes shut, as her mind flashed to replace the dress before her with naked skin. "Rise-san," she pressed out desperately as she tried to force the image of the boy in her head to show clothing. "She-she said you were trying on your shoes. Not the-"

"Y-yeah. Rise."

Silence came back and Naoto tried desperately to find a way to comment on him, tie up the conversation and leave. Puppet-like, the junior Shirogane jerked her hand toward him. "It is - a very nice dress." She wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say at all - can you compliment a man on his drag? She grabbed the brim of her cap and pulled it down, hard.

"I can do way better ‘n this," the boy blurted.

"I-I am sure." Sensing this was as good a time as any, she let her feet inch her back, her unoccupied hand desperate to find the part of the sheet that made the 'door'. "Well. Um. Good luck."

Unable to make herself see; her cap pulled low over her brow, Naoto positively bolted from the makeshift  _séparée_. She felt herself rushing by someone, wrenched open the door, bolted through it and rushed out into the hallway, pressing herself against the wall there. Behind her, there was a roar and a string of profanity of the Tatsumi kind. The only reason she did not melt into an embarrassed puddle was because the first words out of his mouth included, "Damnit, Rise!"

Kanji-kun… She saw-! And he is so-! And... and how can she ever look at him again, knowing that  _he_  knows she saw him like-?! Squeezing her eyes shut, she thudded her head gently against the wall.

The cobalt-haired girl stopped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You okay, Naoto-kun?" The voice was somewhat amused, a bit concerned and carrying the high tones of one certain school-residing idol.

"R-Rise-san. He was... Tatsumi, he, he was mostly undressed..."

A happily amused titter accompanied the hand squeezing her shoulder. "Yeah, sorry about that; I thought he had slipped into the dress by then."

Naoto narrowed her eyes and gazed to her side; her hat crooked on her head from her previous rush and her overall dishevelled state. "You are grinning."

"Well, even you have to admit that was kinda funny?" Rise removed her hand from her shoulder and lifted both her hands before her mouth to hide the smile as it grew ever wider. "Oh gosh, Naoto-kun, your face... you look-"

"I violated his privacy!" The junior Shirogane would have to admit that sounded like a whine. As did the following sentences. "I seek to befriend the young man, not to, to... why would you do such a thing? Why would you risk me seeing him,  _him_  of all people, in such a... he..."

"Weeeeell", the other girl drawled, clasping her hands behind her back, "he didn't kick you out, did he?"

"He...? Well... no, he did not...." She trailed off, blinking.

"So it can't have been quite that bad, hm?" Rise flashed her one of her many idol smiles, warm, large, and radiant."Don't worry. I’m sure he isn't upset. He might have enjoyed you seeing him like that."

Pushing herself slightly away from the wall, risking a glance over her shoulder to see that the changing area was still occupied - and still closed up. Nobody was peering out the door at her. No one appeared to be in the hallway. As she finally turned her head to her side, the other girl simply smirked at her, slowly bouncing on her toes.

Peculiar. Why was she so pleased about another girl getting a proverbial eye full of the boy she held an intimate interest in? What was it? Was she still testing Kanji's faithfulness? Was she testing out Naoto's decency and moral fibre? 

"And you, Rise-san?” she asked cautiously. “Do you not mind? I mean... me seeing him like that?"

The smile seemed to freeze for a moment, replaced by a puzzled frown. "Why would I mind? You're gonna see him dolled up soon anyhow. I know he'll look amazing; I'm not shy of showing him off."

Showing him off. Is that how she thinks of all of this? Flaunting him to other girls? ' _I have this guy wrapped around my finger, but you can't have him?_ ' ...maybe. It seemed somewhat desperate and insecure, but she could see it as a possibility. It made a sad kind of sense for the idol overall. Her fame might be something that attracts a man, but how to hold their interest?

Slowly nodding, Naoto opened her mouth and stopped as she heard Hanamura-senpai complain loudly about the dress looking stupid on him.

 _Dress_.  _Oh no, the dress!_  "I-I need to go, Rise-san!"

With that, she turned and bolted to the stairway.

 

* * *

 

Naoto sat on the stairs outside the building and fanned herself some air with her hat. It was too late in the year to feel so hot and exhausted. She had run straight home, dug out the dress she had in mind for Teddy from the depths of her closet and bolted back to school at a dead run; bus travel not counted.

Part of her was pleased to still find herself in such good shape. Or, perhaps, to again be in such good shape. The outings to the TV World were excellent workouts all around and she had been much more active since she joined regular school education overall. One could underestimate just how much students walk each day.

She sighed, pulling at her shirt's collar, fanning some more air, when a shadow fell over her.

As she cracked open her eyes, she had to supress a sigh. Slipping into her comfortable lower register, as she still did around those she felt less at ease with, she said softly, "Megumi Enomoto-san. How may I help-?"

"You lied to me," the girl said melodiously, almost dream-like. As Naoto replaced the cap on her head slowly, she saw the girl must have been crying. Her cheeks were stained red from scrubbing, her make-up, habitually applied perfectly, was ruined and mostly wiped away; her eyes were pale and red and watery. "You said you simply didn't want me to change who I am, but you were not who you said you were all along. You just lied to me and strung me along."

Forcing herself to remain calm, Naoto slowly straightened up to sit taller. It was fitting for this action to fall into a personal contrast of the subject matter; her bound chest protested as she took a deep breath. "I have never lied to you. You merely took what you saw at face-value and-"

"Don't try to play word games with me! Don't try to play it off as some kind of game, Naoto! You knew I liked you-"

"Who?" the junior detective cut in cold, her empathy quickly dissolving. " _Who_  did you like?"

" _YOU_!"

As Megumi started to sob helplessly, hiding her face behind her hands, Naoto pressed her lips together. She glanced around briefly, checking if the other girl had brought her commonly present entourage. As she saw no one near, she got to her feet and tried her best to fall into a relaxed, no-threatening posture.

She did feel a little bit sorry for the girl, on some level. The emotional investment had felt real to her. The attraction, the thoughts, the feelings to her as a person appeared to be factual. Even if that was not the case, they thought the truly did have feelings for Naoto.

That is why she had made sure to be as professional and clinical as she possibly could have been with all of the girls who professed their affections. She had reasoned with them. She had rebutted them. She had clearly stated that she did not have any interest. Her hand touched her cheek as it always did when she felt the ghost of that slap she had caught from this very girl before her.

As the sobbing subsided and the other girl started to steal glances at Naoto, the junior Shirogane placed her hands at the nape of her lower back. "You did not  _like_   _me_. And you did not feel romantic bonds towards me."

"How can you just stand there and-?"

Naoto held up her hands and continued speaking. "You liked the idea of you being in a relationship with the Detective Prince. Of Naoto Shirogane, there was no interest." As the girl's mouth dropped open to protest, she simply resumed. "How do you know me? How have you ever attempted to get to know  _me_?"

With a sigh, she noticed the girl growing hysterical again, her breathing speeding up. Finally she wailed, "I KEPT TRYING TO GET TO KNOW YOU! I kept trying; I tried so hard, I wanted nothing else! I made you boxed lunches and I sent letters and-"

"... and out of all of these... how much of that was trying to 'win' the idea of dating the Detective Prince and how much was honest interest in  _me_? How much of what you did, you did to really know me? My hobbies. My likes. My dislikes. How deep was your concern for the person behind the idealised image you made of me?"

"But... I-!"

"No." Her voice was cold and clear as she very pointedly spoke over the other girl.  "You played games as much as I did, if that is what you wish to think.”

As she saw the other girl start to consider her words, the cobalt-haired girl herself turned her thoughts away from the now and reviewed what she had just stated.

She was certain in her actions still. Was certain her words had been the right ones. And this feeling only strengthened as she thought on the members of the investigation team.

Not one of them seemed to have ever seen her truly as the Detective Prince. Certainly, Yosuke-senpai had made his share of comments and remarks, but that appeared to be uniquely  _him_. He did it to everyone, no matter how much it upset them or not.

However, what about everyone else? Yu-senpai had been nothing but respectful in each interaction. Chie-senpai had only grown warmer and more protective of her as her  _kohai_  since they learned of her true nature and of her shadow. Yukiko-senpai had gifted her a crime novel - which, a guilty thought reminded her, still sat unopened on her coffee table. Rise-san seemed torn between trying to befriend her and torture her with her boyfriend. In addition, that boy... Kanji Tatsumi had always been somewhere between afraid and respectful of her. She frequently noticed him as he observed her; caught him going out of his way to watch her back. It filled her with a unique and very comfortable feeling.

None of these actions were directed at the fictional Detective Prince. None of these activities felt pretentious or false. They cared, and they cared about the person she was. Her body and her soul, they wanted her safe.

That a confrontation with Megumi Enomoto of all people would bring this forth so clearly felt remarkable and worrisome. She pinched her eyes shut and sighed softly, packing the rising feeling of warmth away to be investigated another time.

"In the end," Naoto said, "you simply were pining for an unattainable ideal. A fictional outcome over a fictional person. And your anger now is realising the idea cannot ever be a reality." She pushed her cap up to make sure she could fully face the other girl. "I took your dream. I took your idea of being with this dream. For that, I will apologise. I should have desorbed that dream in a stronger manner. Although after the slap you gave me, I thought I already had managed before."

Megumi blinked at her, emotionally exhausted. "How can you be like this...? How can you be lik- how can you be so cold to me?"

"I am cordial, Enomoto-san, not cold. There is a small but significant difference. If we had been friends, at any time. If you had treated me with the respect and dignity that you give any person you wish to meet, and not with the demands of a dream... we could maybe speak differently now. But like this, we simply will be unlikely to become more than classmates." Naoto glanced at her watch and shook her head. "If you will excuse me, please. I will be needed elsewhere soon."

As she walked up the stairs, she heard the girl call out once more. "Everyone will see you for what you are, you  _lesbian trap_!"

Naoto's steps halted and she froze. She recognised the last words as a slur, but she was unsure how to place it in comparison to her. It wasn't as if she actively sought out female companionship... or anyone's. As it was, she turned to give the weeping girl a last glance. "They will simply see  _me_  instead of a fictional character today." She tipped her head and walked into the building.


	43. Chapter Fourty-Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watching the boys get their just deserves; undergoing her own square-up with the basic competition goals for the girls - and encountering one of Yaso-High's non-too-finest...

**October 30th, 2011, Mid-day**

 

 

The atrium was much more crowded than Naoto had expected it to be. By all rights, the chance of making fun of some of their peers should not hold such a polarising effect on the student body. _Yet, here we are._

With a sigh, Naoto took off her hat to ruffle her hair. She still felt somewhat warm and slightly sweaty after all the running she had done. Going by the face the third-year Miyako Fujiwara made as she sprinted past her to give Teddy her dress, they were behind schedule. ...come to think of it, she had not noticed some of the boys in the area at all.

A sharp nudge to her shoulder made her bristle up and turn to face-

"Oh. Hello, Sato-"

"Chi-eeeeee..."

"-yes, of course, Chie-senpai." Naoto replaced her cap and tucked it down to hide her discomfort. "I still feel uneasy that we have forced the boys into this."

"You've _got_ to be kidding! This is the greatest thing ever! Yosuke will remember this the next time he tries to prank any of us. Oh, this will be the best thing _ever_ since, since..."

"The history of anything?"

Both of them turned and saw a smirking Rise Kujikawa stroll up to them.

Excitedly, her senpai pointed at the younger girl. "You get it!"

"Well, yeah, I helped plant the names after all." At Naoto’s shocked expression she winked and gave her a very idolesque V-sign beside her eyes. "It's totally okay, Naoto, first we get our fun, then we give the guys an eye full and then we go grab some food."

"I am still unsure that what they did gave us the right to... well." She crossed her arms. "I would rather not have stooped to their level."

"It's _fiiiine_ , trust me," Chie said with a sigh, "and Yukiko said she will make sure they don't slip away a second time. She's back with Miyako -senpai."

"Did Fujiwara -senpai mention how she ended up having to be the stage manager for this ... event?" Naoto glanced around uneasily and noticed still more students filling in.. A pack of third-years started to chant 'Start. The. Show!' and she was not at all surprised to notice Sonoda being in the middle of the young men.

Rise shook her head 'No', and her sporty senpai bounced on her toes. "Well, rumour has it, this is to avoid some kind of nonsense by Kashiwagi or another. You don't have her yet, this year, but trust me, that woman..." She trailed off and peered over Naoto's shoulder.

Yukiko walked up to them. She must have caught part of the question, as she had just asked what the issue with Miyako-san was. "Oh, she said something about having flunked on the event last year? Apparently," she said, lowering her voice and leaning forward to the other girls, "her leaving the event last year caused the rule change that anyone signed up had to participate."

"So!" Rise beamed at her. "Did Kanji catch Yosuke-kun yet?" Naoto glanced to the idol as she dropped Kanji's address informally, as she so often would in public. Something about the way she had posed the question implied that she already knew the answer, too. Curious.

"Yes, I actually returned when I saw them head towards the back stage." A smirk bloomed on her face and she lifted a hand to her lips. "Kanji-kun basically had to drag Yosuke-kun, it looked like." With that she started to giggle and Chie, rolling her eyes, stepped beside her to pat her back gently.

The chanting had grown and by now Rise shot an annoyed look to the group of guys jeering. "I mean, I wanna get started, too, but..."

Naoto frowned unhappily at the stage; pointedly not looking at the boys. "It is Sonoda-senpai," she said softly, not looking into their direction. "He will attempt to draw unwanted attention to anyone he can. He is nothing but a bully and a ruffian. We should not pay him any heed."

"Yeah," Rise said softly, "I remember him. Can't take no for an answer.... Kanji-kun … helped me deal with him a few times when I started coming to Yaso-High.. He isn’t someone who takes no for an answer." She gave herself a shake as if she snapped out of an unpleasant memory, then grinned openly at Naoto. "Are you excited to see him?"

The blunette blinked. "Sonoda-senpai?"

"No! Kanji-kun!" The grin became a smirk and the idol leaned into the Detective Prince, making her try to uneasily lean away. "I bet after you saw him earlier, you can’t wait to see the end result..."

Naoto knew she reacted. The way the smirk deepened told her more than her own physical sense that she must be blushing; that her eyes widened. "Wh-Why would I care about that one way or the other? I am merely here to see them receive the punishment we decided upon before we are being led to the proverbial chopping block."

"Sure, Naoto-kun. _Suuuure_. You have no interest at all." Rise winked at her, then turned to the stage, as loud cheering announced the MC. Naoto exhaled slowly and tucked her cap lower.

The girls crowded around Naoto and cheered. Satonaka blinked and asked loudly, "Who the heck is that? Looks like a third-year..."

Amagi shook her head. "I can’t tell with the wig and glasses..."

"Shh, you guys," Rise mewled, "it’s starting!"

"Ladies and gentlemen! We now begin the second day of the Culture Festival with the ever-popular "Miss" Yasogami pageant!"

A dangerously smooth, low voice close behind Naoto chuckled, "So it begins..."  She risked a glance and flinched, looking back forward.

Rise leaned in and murmured in her ear over the cheers all around, "Yeah Kashiwagi is right behind us, just ignore her if you can."

Naoto moved her attention back to the stage and caught the end-bit of the first introduction.

"...who's Inaba born and bred, and can kill with both her fists and her looks! Presenting... "

Only one of the boys was born here, she knew, so she felt herself tighten up in uncomfortable apprehension. She had hoped he would not be the first one, for reasons she could not put into words. Somehow, she had hoped it would be Yu-senpai, that he would capture her attention and hold her focus, but...

"Kanji-chan, of the first year, class three!"

But it was Tatsumi, who, seemingly off-balance, staggered forward onto the brightly-lit stage - and the audience burst out laughing.

She winced in sympathy. What else, but crudeness, could she have expected from a hall full of immature teens? Naoto shot a sharp glance around, noticing Rise standing tensely beside her, until the girl looped her arm through hers. Her expression was one of excited anticipation. If she had noticed the burst of laughter, she ignored it, whispering softly, "Balance on your toes, dummy, lean forward..."

With a bright smile at the audience, the MC flung an arm wide and said in a warm voice dripping with honey, "She's a vision of grace, isn't she?"

In a burst of shared embarrassment, Naoto tucked her cap lower with her free hand. She barely peered at the boy still from under the brim of her hat, feeling a slight flushing of her cheeks as she regarded him.

This was when he must have seen Rise. Looking right where she stood, his posture changed from a half-crouch, to a straight and tall stance. He nodded and turned back to the other side of the stage. As the first one out, he would likely need to endure this attack the loudest and longest. She felt for the boy.

However, seeing the idol seemed to fuel his determination. With a second nod, he stalked to the centre of the stage, stopped and turned to face the crowd before he posed, flexing his arms low. Feeling the flush return, Naoto fought picturing what she knew was happening to his built form under that dress.

She heard the watcher's comments of how he did not make a pretty girl and even a very low "Ugh" from Satonaka.

Certainly, if the goal was to impress with feminine wiles, he had just failed the test. She wondered how he would have looked if he had placed his hand behind his head and maybe bent his knees slightly to pose - only to realise that such a pose would have only brought emphasis to his shoulders and pectorals than his flexing stance had; and how this was not at all what she needed to think about just then.

He seemed to ignore the commentary and walked to the chuckling MC, leaned down to the microphone and grunted, "S'up!"

Beside Naoto, Rise exploded in cheers, throwing one arm up to wildly wave at the boy. "Yaaaaay, Kanji-kun! Knock 'em dead!"

For her part, the junior Shirogane took the freedom she gained over her arm to grab her cap with both hands now and pull if low over her eyes. It allowed her both to hide her blush and to resist the impulse to ogle the boy. Who knew just _how much_ heels would give a boy a 'nice leg'? Just how much of a tease a dress that went just above the knee-

Frowning at herself, she sighed, lowering the cap even further over her eyes. But... She opened her eyes and lifted her cap, trying to rock on her tiptoes to peer at the stage again. Surely, the other boys would come out soon. They would not leave poor Tatsumi alone in the spotlight...

"Now, don't rip me apart for asking, Kanji-chan-" - she noticed the boy bristle up and crack his knuckles - "-but what would you say is your best feature?"

The boy paused, his left hand still tightly gripping his right. Looking puzzled, he mumbled, "Uh...my eyes?"

Chie groaned. Yukiko giggled. Rise squeaked and cheered.

"Whoa - a conventional answer from this all-too-unconventional beauty! They're certainly captivating, Kanji-chan!"

Naoto blinked, feeling her brain zero in on what she remembered of his eyes. She found herself nodding along. He did have quite pleasing eyes, whenever they were not constricted to pinpoints. She faintly remembered the doctor’s observation on light eyes and mused for a moment if he would do better with glasses that hold photochromic lenses.

With a quick wink in his direction, the announcer turned back to the audience. "After such a strong start, I don't know how much of a chance the others have, but here's our second contestant!"

Naoto's eyes returned to peer back at Kanji, as he seemed to slump and step back a short distance.

"An eloquent heiress of the noble Junes, she's pure disappointment from the moment she opens her mouth! Presenting... Yosuke-chan, from the second-year Class 2!"

Naoto found herself losing focus. She watched Tatsumi in the back, still throwing flexes at the audience here and there, winking at people, and casting shy looks at Rise beside her.

For her part, she seemed entirely too pleased with her handiwork once she saw Hanamura enter the stage. She leaned towards Naoto and mumbled happily, "Chie tried, but there's simply no way to turn that lug into something even remotely cute."

This time the laughter was punctuated with yells of 'Junes!'.

The announcer gestured toward him, sweeping a hand up and down. "You look ready to win in that outfit, Yosuke-chan! Do you often dress like this?"

"Hell no!" Yosuke snapped - then winced, coughed, and tried again in an even higher pitch. "Uh, like, no way!"

The faked female squeak caused both of her female senpai to hold on to one another mirthfully and laugh out loud. Where Rise seemed to have taken care in Kanji"s appearance to make sure he stood out as a feminine - well, she could have coached him more on his movements and the likes, possibly - it appeared that Chie had gone straight for humiliation.

"Of course, of course - and the lady’s department at Junes must be so convenient. I'm sure you can give Kanji-chan a few tips, right?"

Naoto _actually_ laughed softy at this.

Rise gave her an interested look and asked, "What, you agree?"

"No, not at all. Kanji Tatsumi takes pride in his work. He made a point of letting me know he had designed the dress himself. I believe he would never _buy_ any clothing unless he was in a very dire need indeed."

"So," the twin-tailed girl drawled, "you think he and I did a better job at this?"

Naoto glanced aside to the other girl, then simply nodded stiffly before turning back to view the stage.

"Now for our third contestant! She has the mildly bitter tang of the city, and she's made more girls cry than there are stars in the sky. Presenting our transfer student who's been breaking hearts in the second-year Class 2, Yu Narukami-chan!"

Beside her, Rise's attention was torn away at once and she jumped up and down excitedly, squealing, "Go, Senpai!"

He stepped forward and Naoto forced herself to take in every detail. The _shinai,_ a bamboo training sword, resting over his shoulder. The pose he struck was one of provocation as he slapped the weapon's tip sharply to the fllor. His low and not at all feminine voice as he growled at the audience, "Hot, right?"

The audience exploded into equal parts jeers and cheers. As much as Naoto willed her brain not to, she did find herself comparing the boys currently on stage.

Well. At least Yu-san and Kanji-kun. No matter what, it was clear Yosuke-senpai was only there to be humiliated, and she would not waste time on any evaluation of his performance.

The other two, however...

Where Kanji had played with being a male in female clothing, Yu seemed to be playing the role of a long-haired tomboy. In a way, both of them had decided to attempt to remain in control of their masculinity while wearing drag. Unlike Yosuke-san, this approach seemed to work much better for them. They had more confidence, even though the humiliation must have been felt by them. They had more energy. And they both easily held her attention.

Yu-senpai approached the microphone, _shinai still_ propped casually over one shoulder. "Hey."

"Wow, sounds like your entrance is causing quite a stir! Did you sign yourself up?"

"Of course. Being in a beauty pageant is one of my life goals."

The girls in the audience had started giggling again. Somehow, the laughter directed at her team leader sounded differently than when they laughed at the other boys. A cruel edge was missing and she tucked away this bit of information as a sign that he simply was much more popular.

"Any words for your adoring public?"

"Just that I hope you vote for me," Yu answered, then hesitated. "And, uh, sorry about all those broken hearts. Guess I'm a ladies'...lady."

"One with a competitive streak - and with that weapon she's carrying, our other ladies had better watch out!"

Naoto watched Rise narrow her eyes at the boy as he winked at the crowd and stepped back to stand with their other friends. "Yeah," she said softly, "all those broken hearts, hm?"

The cobalt-haired girl stole a glance towards the auburn twin-tails and pondered that this was yet another bit of information she would need to put away for a later time. The seemingly jealous expression on the idol’s face clashed with her close relationship to Tatsumi and she pondered if the girl had further motives when it came to these two young men.

The MC caught her wandering thoughts yet again. "I've already had about enough of this, but there's still more to come. It's two for the price of one with our fourth and fifth contestants, a pair of shy Shakespearean sweethearts who just can't stand to be apart - the enchanting Kou-chan from Class 2-3, and the equally radiant Daisuke-chan from Class 2-1!"

"What're you trying to say?" hollered Daisuke, dragging Kou on stage by his frilled shoulders.

As Naoto narrowed her eyes at the display on stage, she mumbled, "Our senpai better handle these dresses with care. We still need them later today..."

"Fascinating outfits there, ladies! Can we expect to see you in this afternoon's costumed delights?"

Yukiko-san started to snort, trying to hold in her laughter again.

Kou-senpai cringed, ducking his head. "Not in this get-up, and at least I die at the end."

"A great loss indeed!" The announcer turned to the audience. "Now, our beautiful girls are supposed to demonstrate their charms one by one - but these two just insisted on being a couple. Daisuke-chan, Kou-chan, could you tell us why?"

Chie shook her head at the display on stage. "I hadn't even heard these two meat-heads were in this. What were they thinking?"

Rise shrugged. "Dunno. ...though I think one of is stealing glances at us..."

Chie sighed, looking first at her best friend, then back at the idol. "Possibly just worried because of _Miss Gigglefit_ over here. Seriously, Yuki..."

Naoto shook her head. All of this was madness. And most of it not even contained in any form. As the two boys of her senpai's parallel class shoved each other into the background, she sighed. If all of this was any insight into what would happen for the girls, she hoped dearly she could somehow slip away. Quietly. Quickly.

The MC spoke enthusiastically into his microphone. "Our final contestant is a last-minute, unaffiliated entrant. Calling herself 'King of the TV World', she's a cute, sexy little number! Give a warm welcome to Teddy-chan!"

She felt her mouth dry up. Rise squeaked excitedly and hugged her arm tightly once more. "Here we go, Naoto! Let's see how you did!"

"How I...?"

"Kanji-kun was my entry, so Teddy-"

"Gimme your hearts!"

The entire auditorium went quiet as a happily sparkling, terribly cute girl skipped onto the stage. Only, Naoto saw the dress and knew at once it was no girl.

Beside her, Chie whistled softly, Rise seemed to choke, and Yukiko gaped, her mouth standing open.

Teddy looked... well. She had to admit he most likely looked _cute_.

Rise shook her head. "Wow, Naoto-kun... that's just... that is unfair. Who knew he could be so... so..."

"Disturbing?" Naoto offered.

"Yeah," Chie supplied while sounding stunned, "that works."

For the first time that day, the announcer wasn't smirking. "So, uh, T-Teddy-chan!" he choked, eyes glaring holes in his paper. "W-What's it like being royalty?"

"It's great!" Teddy chirped. A few stray sparkles glittered around his head. "People give me dresses and Topsicles and yellow scarves and I get to score with princesses like Yuk-"

The rest was lost in a muffled squeak. Yu had yanked Teddy away from the microphone with one hand clamped over the bear's mouth, still wearing a bright and completely unconvincing smile. "Sorry. Competitive streak."

Naoto let her eyes wander along the other boys. Yu seemed annoyed, while the others seemed somewhat worried. And Kanji.... Kanji Tatsumi seemed somewhat disappointed. About what, she was uncertain. Maybe his glances over here meant he had hoped Rise would show more pride in his actions, or maybe he had wished for Rise to cheer for him more than she had for Yu-senpai.

Whichever it was, it caught her attention and wonder for long enough, that she nearly missed when the time to vote came.

Naoto refused to enter a ballot.

The point had been to strip the boys of some of their dignity before they had to embark on the same foolish errant. She would not lower herself to add insult to injury.

Besides. She was unsure whom she would vote for. If the goal was the best girl-impersonation, it would need to be Teddy. If it was Charisma, probably Yu-senpai. And if it was pure fire, well, Kanji certain had put his all into showing off. Not precisely showing off his _female_ qualities - unless one were to be sexist and consider he had designed and made his dress himself... although, that, too, would count towards his passion for his performance, would it not?

By the time the boys filed back in, the audience was a sea of excited murmurs and laughter. The announcer stood by the curtain, microphone in one hand and a bright pink rosette in the other. "Ladies, you'll be happy to know that all the votes are in! The winner of this year's 'Miss' Yasogami pageant is…" he flashed the crowd a smile, "...the random contestant who won everybody's hearts, Ms. Teddy!"

With a whoop of joy, Teddy punched the air with both hands. "Team Teddy’s dream is accomplished!"

Chie smiled, putting her fists on her hips. "Not everyone can get that excited over a victory in a cross-dressing competition."

Yukiko smiled as well, nodding. "Seeing him so happy kind of makes me happy too..."

"Yeah," Rise said, "he's, like, over the top innocent." Then she turned to the very quiet detective. "Yay, Naoto, you guys won," She seemed overjoyed, though Naoto was not sure how much of that actually was her acting or not.

"I... Rise-san, I had assistance. Further, I have a feeling that Teddy-"

"Well, yeah, we all helped each other here and there. Only Chie-senpai said she needed no help."

On the stage, Teddy tried to hug and kiss the MC, who barely struggled to keep him at bay. "As our champion, Ms. Teddy, you'll receive a very special prize. Later this afternoon, you'll be an honorary judge in the Miss Yasogami Pageant - with actual beauties, this time!"

As one, the girls froze. It was Chie-senpai, who, succinct as always, summed up their new predicament. "Oh, like we needed _that_ to happen!"

"The long-awaited day has finally come!" Teddy twirled in place, blond hair flowing behind him. "I decree that one of the judging criteria later this afternoon will be…a swimsuit competition!"

The audience erupted into a mixture of cheers and giggles - and right next to Naoto, her sporty senpai exploded. "Over my dead body!"

And then Naoto felt her blood run cold as she caught a soft chuckle from Kashiwagi behind her. "This is great! I love the direction this is going!"

 

* * *

 

Sharp disdain dripped from the words, “Dress yourselves up as well as you can, you little brats,” as Kashiwagi stalked into the classroom.

With worry, the resident detective noticed how Chie’s eyes narrowed at the comment. “What is she, the rival woman on a soap opera...?” After a beat of silence, her sporty senpai blinked rapidly. “Wait, is Kashiwagi serious about winning this?”

Into the stunned quiet of her group, a hassled-sounding Fujiwara-senpai rushed towards them. “Teddy-san dropped this off for you lucky girls…” She shook her head and lifted the bags she carried with a shrug. “He said that they're swimsuits...”

In outrage, Chile stomped a foot. “Hey! We don't need them!”

As one, the girls turned as the worst villain-laugh started up being them. Kashiwagi actually cackled. Naoto was unsure she had ever heard someone seriously laugh like this without trying to imply overtly villainous undertones. “My mature charms will win the day! I brought my own swimsuit, of course.”

Naoto watched as Chie’s jaw dropped. Then watched her other senpai gape openly as their classmate Hanako announced: “I brought my own too.”

In shock and general confusion, her senpai looked from her teacher to her classmate. "Wh-What's with these people!?"

Naoto for her part sighed softly and peered into the large Junes bag. A quick glance showed her about a dozen outfits. At least Teddy had helpfully provided options for the girls... even if these options, she noted as she rummaged, were very much limited to very short two-piece articles. She turned her head as she saw her two female senpai turning to one another.

Quietly, Yukiko said, "Hey, l-let's not do this..."

"What's that?" Without either of the four girls noticing, their teacher had sauntered over and inserted herself back into the conversation. "Getting cold feet? Wise of you to back out of a fight you can't win. You call yourself an idol...But you're just jailbait with no brains, no guts, and _especially_ no figure."

Outrage flashed across Rise's features. "What...!?"

Before Naoto could speak up to try and cool off everyone into more productive realms of conversation, the so-far unknown, much larger girl, spoke up. "There's no way their type would be crowned Miss Inaba. Why not just let them back out?" The snark was directed at their teacher, but her looks zeroed in on her two classmates.

"Oh, and I suppose you think you're gonna take the crown!?" Chie had pulled her arm from her friend's hold and started to bounce on her toes. "You little...snoring pig!"

"Little...?" murmured Naoto to herself.

"Snoring? What're you talking about? Your face is as foul as your mouth, and your brain's as rotten to boot."

"We went through hell because of you...Th-That's it! Now I'm pissed!"

"Oh? You're going to challenge me? It's useless...Don't waste your energy. Let this be a warning to the others, too. You're going to lose. Now's your last chance to run away."

"R-Run away? Why the hell would we run from someone like you!?"

By now, both girls had stepped closer towards one another. Naoto had started to watch them with concern, hoping for intervention from the adult in the room... but Kashiwagi-san simply stood, smiling, her arms crossed, waiting for the scene to play out.

The designated mature one was no surprise to Naoto. Yukiko held up her hands, addressing both her friend and her classmate. "Well...We did kinda run away last time..." she murmured to Chie.

"That's what I'm saying!" The detective observed how her senpai started to lightly bounce on the balls of her feet. "We gotta stand our ground and get our revenge for that! How can we cower and hide when they're picking a fight!?"

With an unsure nod, Yukiko murmured a soft, "Y-Yeah..."

Tucking her cap lower, Naoto crossed her arms. They were being baited, but in their excitement, they were fully ignoring this fact. She signed and gazed at the ground. The only logical option now was to stay out of all of this.

Whirling around to look at the idol, Chie spat, "Right, Rise-chan? Naoto-kun!? We won't run from this, right!?"

Naoto's head snapped up. "Huh...!? M-Me too!?" Uncrossing her arms, she stood straighter, upset confusion on her face. "Why are you letting yourself be so easily provoked!? Th-Th-Th-There's no way! Absolutely. _No_. Way. That I'm wearing a swimsuit! In _public_!"

With nearly a snarl, her short-haired and short-tempered senpai replied, "You're not goin' anywhere...!"

Naoto inched away from her senpai, raising her hands soothingly. She had herself get swept up as well; now was the time to try and ease off. With her low, practiced voice, she said, "Chie-san, please, do not let the general aggressive stance of your homeroom teacher overtake your own cheerful mood... You generally are one of the beacons of positive energy in our group."

Her senpai dropped her hands, then rubbed her face. "UGH, you-! You're right, Naoto-kun. Sorry." With a sigh she turned to Rise. "You're the expert at this, Rise-chan. How do we do this then?"

Rise flashed them a bright smile and a V-sign with her right hand. "We will rock this. You guys grab the suits, let me grab my make-up kit, and we will get going. I can't _wait_!"

"Going?" their teacher drawled. "What makes you think you'll be going anywhere? You are just trying to slip out!"

"Kashiwagi-sensei," Rise smoothly supplied, "some privacy is needed. In the end, all of us are supposed to bring our A-game. And what star doesn't have their own dressing room? I'm sure you will be headed out to get dressed as well, right?"

The teacher's eyes narrowed, but then she nodded slowly. "Yeah, okay, you brats can stay here and try to make yourselves 'look pretty'", the quotation marks fell into place heavily in her tone, "while us _women_ go get ready in a more fitting setting."

Naoto watched as Yukiko placed two fingers right between the tensing shoulder blades of her best friend. "Good luck, Kashiwagi-sensei," she said, polite manager voice active. As Chie took a breath to say something, the pressure between her shoulder blades seemed to increase as she was pushed forward gently. While she glared at her friend, their teacher and other classmate left.

"UUUGH, I just wanna-"

"Get ready!" Rise bounced happily towards them. "C'mon, you guys, let's make this like an awesome group thing! We get to go on stage together; this is so cool! I've never had the chance to go on stage with actual friends before!"

Naoto smiled gently at the excitement of the idol. "You just have a gift, Rise-san, about giving any bad situation a positive light."

She got a wink as reward for her compliment and the twin-tailed whirlwind turned to the bathing suits provided. "Well... some of these are decent... and by that, I mean we won't be _naked_ on stage.." She upended the large bag and spilled out about twenty different styles of swimwear.

"Rise-san," Naoto said with worry, "are they _all_ like this?"

"Mhm?"

"Are there _any_ one-piece outfits in there?"

"Oh, I hope not," the girl said happily, holding up a green bikini towards Satonaka with a musing expression on her face, "bathing suit contests are not supposed to be modest like that."

"Hey, hold on," Chie said, "that thing looks damn familiar!" She snatched the two-piece from Rise's hands and growled, "This is the same damn thing that I already have at home! Yuki, remember, the thing that Yosuke gave us? OH, I will _kill him_...!"

A small outraged scuffle around the pile of swimwear began. Different girls had a different focus for the outrage, from showing too much to showing too little, to not having the right size… but generally, the distraction was welcomed by the detective. Naoto started to inch towards the door. Rise and their senpai seemed very much determined to go through with this, and she felt her appeals to rebel against this new stipulation on the event would fall on deaf ears. They had been lured in by the boasting of Kashiwagi and Otani and nothing was going to change them from their course.

So, she took the way out she could quickly think of. Out the door and down the hallway. Behind her, she heard Chie call out in rage and bolt after her.

Naoto had planned to try to run out the building at first (a tardy note for missing the event would have no lasting impact on her life-long career goals; her ego on the other side might take lasting damage), but knowing the sporty girl and her stamina, she would not get far. In panic, she glanced around for another way - and saw her escape.

Grabbing the door frame, she shouldered the door to the boy's bathroom open and ducked inside. Her entire manoeuvre was banking on the modesty of the fellow girls in her team and all she could think of was a way to remain ducked out of sight. Only for about an hour. Until the event was over.

Momentum carried her inside and she stumbled forward, grabbing a hold on the large row of sinks. Looking over her shoulder in panic, she relaxed the moment she noticed that Satonaka had not followed her, but the scream of impotent rage carried. She flinched. "My apologies, Satonaka-san," she mumbled, turning to face herself in the mirror, "But I just cannot go through with this."

She half-heard her senpai vanish down the hallway and exhaled in relief. She stumbled into one of the stalls, might as well as she was here, and pondered through the last few hours.

Whatever competitive streak had been touched upon by the other girls, this was likely to be one of the worst times for it to execute. Not only that, but her escape here may simply have become yet another trap.

She exited to wash her hands and pondered, water continuously running over her hands, ignoring as the doors banged open.

"...Narukami-kid won't ever be able to show his face in public again, mark my... words?"

Naoto froze and looked up at the face of Jin Sonoda.

"Well! Well, well, well," he drawled, his stance relaxing even more as he approached her. "Look who it is, you guys. Cute little Shirogane- _kun_ graces us with _his_ presence. Oh, pardon me, _miss_ , _her_ presence!" A dutiful chorus of chuckles erupted behind them.

She simply turned off the running water and shook her hands off. "Good afternoon, Sonoda-senpai," she said, keeping her voice even and low. "It would appear that by habit, I walked into the wrong bathroom. I-"

"Yeah, by habit." His voice had turned cold and cruel. "Kinda the thing, isn't it? Kinda the point." From outside, Naoto could hear her female senpai again. It seemed neither of them had noticed the boys slip in, but just outside that door were the other girls. Chie had started to loudly talk about the principle of the situation, about the question of what they should think if she left them all alone in this, how much Rise wanted them to be there are a group... but it all paled beside the annoyed anger that seemed to enshroud the group of boys before her.

"I assure you, there was no ill will on my part regarding any of this. A mere misunderstanding, which-"

"You're a smooth talker, aren't you? Hm? Shirogane? Like to be taken seriously?" She fell back, slowly inching away from the boy as he started to crowd into her personal space.

"I would know few people who dislike being taken seriously, senpai." Her eyes flickered from one of the boys to the next. None of them were truly imposing, but they had numbers on her.

"Yeah, imagine that, Shirogane. Everyone likes to be taken seriously. And you think you're so clever, don't you?" Two fingers pressed just below her collar bone and gave her a shove. She took two steps back, remaining quiet. " Normal rules don't apply to you, eh? Do they?"

The low, threatening voice he used to speak to her made her somewhat worried. She never had to get into any kind of scraping about with anyone - and she only knew how to employ her defences against someone threatening her life. The sneering drone of her upperclassman dragged on, but she could not focus on it. In her mind, she calculated.

Chances of dodging past them - slim. They would grab her and see her action as an invitation to go after her with a more focused energy.

She could anticipate his next shove and employ a disarming move from Judo or Aikido - but, again, they were outnumbering her. Even a simple roll would put her into a state one of his companions could take advantage of.

She ignored the next shove against her shoulder and kept her expression neutral. The only thing she could try was to defuse the current situation verbally, or reach the point where Satonaka would reach the end of her short temper and come in after her; modesty be damned.

"Don't have much to say for yourself, eh, Shirogane- _kun_?" the boy spat. She had never before seen him snarl or frown like this and she found it did nothing to his appearance.

From the outside, a female voice could be heard through the door. "It's not like I wanna do this either, Naoto-kun! It's the principle of the thing!" Waiting for her female senpai's patience to run out would not take much longer, she reckoned.

"Stop fucking ignoring me!" Another hard push had her take a few steps back, feeling the wall at the heel of a foot. "Make up your mind, you little freak! You wanna be a guy or a girl?"

"There is no direct desire either which way, Sonoda-san."

"Can't be both. Unless you _have_ both, maybe? Should we check? You're a little queer freak?"

"My gender should equally not cause you any concern," she replied quietly.

" _Any concern,_ " he said mockingly. "Ain't no concern, freak, but you can't be here if you aren't a man... or a tiny little boy even."

"You have encountered me here before, senpai," she said, in her best neural voice, "we have always been cordial and I don't see why this is an issue." She tried to stay calm, but in all of this, she did feel her voice slightly growing tense. The crowding around her started to have an impact.

"Because you ain't allowed in here." Sonoda growled.

"I used this restroom for most of the semest-"

"Only 'cause you were lying. Thought we were stupid, right?" This time the shove backed her fully into the wall.

"I have no quarrel with any of you," Naoto replied. "Now. Please step aside."

"C'mon, Shirogane! You wanna be a guy, then you've gotta fight like one."

She heard the door bang and expected Satonaka to finally have lost her cool. She could be a hot-headed woman at times, but she also knew how to step up for a friend. Her shoulders relaxed ... until she saw who had just stormed in.

Kanji Tatsumi stepped forward, hands already balled into tight fists at his side. "Ya got a problem, asshole?"

Where Chie would at least know when to cool down, she knew from repeat performances that Kanji Tatsumi did not. In fact, he would not know how to read the mood of a place if it was written on the walls. If anything, this was bad, and his protective streak might just make this worse and lead into a full-on brawl. She glanced at him, back at Sonoda, then gestured impatiently toward the door. "Kanji-kun, there's no need to-"

But the older boy interrupted her, looking over his shoulder. "What, you here to save little Shirogane-kun? Figures." Sonoda's mouth curled into a sneer. "Queers stick together."

She aniticpated his reaction and dodged through the now-broken ranks of her bullies, effortlessly sliding between the on-rushing Tatsumi and the other boys. She needed to regain control, and quickly. And the one thing that seemed to work on the tall blonde's temper was her force of will. She stared up at him, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Tatsumi," she said, knowing it would draw his eye, "you are _not_ helping."

"You heard your boyfriend, 'Kanji-kun'," Sonoda jeered. "You seriously think I'm scared of someone who just went up on stage in a dress?"

At that, the cronies all started sniggering. Kanji clenched his jaw, she saw his finger pump as he tried and failed to unclench his fists.

Naoto placed a hand on his arm, shot him another warning glare, then looked up at Sonoda. Anger started to roil within her as well now. Kanji may not be the most popular, or the most polarising or even the fastest thinker. But he was her comrade. Her teammate. And she still desired a closer bond with him to learn that elusive combined attack. And if they were to be a team, then an insult against him was an insult against her.

Making sure her hand remained on the trembling arm of the tall boy, she softly said to the group of bullies before her, "Leave him alone. He has done nothing to you."

"Bet he's done plenty to you, the queer."

The insult slid off her. "You appear to be preoccupied with that word." She knew it was getting to Kanji, but this was not the time to start a brawl. Not now, and, really, not ever. She dropped her voice yet again and regarded the boys from under the brim of her cap. "Some sort of complex, perhaps?"

She hadn't finished the last word before Sonoda had jerked her forward by her shirt collar and pinned her back against the wall. She had not anticipated him to react so quickly, but she would brace herself for the coming punch, if she could not deflect it. However, he hadn't finished pulling back his fist before Kanji grabbed his arm and wrenched it hard at the region of the shorter boy's elbow.

Sukuna-Hikona exploded in anxious squeaks.

Sonoda yelped and tried to twist with the motion, bringing them face-to-face - or rather, one face tilted up to meet the other.

Naoto dropped to her feet, as her assailant's arm dropped.

Kanji scowled down at him. "You want me to beat the shit outta you?"

There were murmurs around them, a few shuffled feet, but none of Sonoda's accomplices stepped in.

The girl did, her voice barely holding on to it's low, even tone, cracking around the edges. "Kanji, let him go!"

"But he-"

"I said, let him go." She moved her hand back on his arm, clutching the sleeve of his shirt tighter than she had meant to, though not as hard to appear desperate. She herself would have called her posture and voice commanding, if barely. "Now."

His eyes bored into her, an unspoken question in his hard look... but she felt his arms slacken as he settled the other boy down, never looking away from her.

As Sonoda yanked his arm away with a visible wince, Naoto squared her shoulders and pointed to his chest. Knowing Tatsumi at her side and being somewhat flush with bravado after managing to direct the much taller boy, she felt her voice flatten out into her normal, low tones. "You. Leave. Unless you would prefer a visit to the Inaba police station and a citation for assault?"

Glaring back at her, breathing hard, Sonoda hesitated. Naoto could feel Kanji shift behind her before, after a moment, their upperclassman turned away.

She gave a curt nod, followed by a sharp, backhanded motion toward the other four boys. "The same applies to the rest of you."

Nobody answered. They shuffled and fidgeted instead, nervous glances skimming over her and Kanji and never quite settling on Sonoda. Eventually, one of them stepped forward, placed a hand on Sonoda's shoulder, and nodded toward the exit.

As their senpai hesitated a moment longer, the girl felt the tall blonde behind her stepping forward, entering the back of her personal space. She spread the fingers of her hand closest to him and held her arm slightly sideways. Not being too noticeable, but being enough in his way that he would hold back.

The group filed out into the corridor without a word or even a glance back. That is, all but Sonoda. The brief sneer he shot at Kanji shifted into a longer glare at Naoto, and when he opened his mouth as if to speak, the blunette lifted her chin slowly. The same friend from before pulled him around the corner into the passageway, and whatever retort he wanted to make never made it past his lips. Instead the only sound was a closing door, leaving Kanji and Naoto standing close to one another in tense silence; in her case, only underlined by the slowly fading buzz of Sukuna-Hikona in the back of her mind.

She did want to relax then, but the close proximity of the tall boy behind her made that impossible. She took one step forward and turned, unable too look up at him. He had saved her.

He had saved her _again_ , to be more precise.

His uncanny ability to find her, his apparent urge to make her business his, coupled with the audacity of seeking to resolve just about every conflict with aggression and violence. This could have been dangerous.

Her eyes wandered up, briefly, as if to seek his eyes. She found her gazes' journey stopped by the brim of her cap, and she instead focussed downward, on his belt buckle. A frown appeared on her face. She was... upset, possibly. Anxious. Maybe even worri-

In a low, worried tone, he finally spoke up. "You alright?"

"There was no need for-!" She snapped her teeth shut, her frown deepening. Yelling at him would only put his back up and make him unwilling to listen to reason. And she was, slowly but steadily, learning that she _could_ influence him. Provided she remained calm and played her cards just right. Quietly, calmly, she started once more. "I had the situation perfectly in hand." With a small shake of her head, she added, “You are already on academic probation, an incident like this could-"

"But he tried t'-"

Her calm vanished. "The idiot simply pushed me. Your reaction was unnecessary." She felt her gaze return into a glower.

She noticed him shift, turning at the hip, possibly to look into the mirror. One of his hands vanished from her limited field of view and she almost expected him to touch her. He did not. Instead, he said very quietly, "Look, comin' in here... people, they-they know about ya now."

"A fact of which I am quite aware" The girl shook her head. "I made a snap decision, correctly predicting Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai would not follow me to this location." She felt her elation vanish as she added, "I did not anticipate them sending you after me. I assume it was not a lucky coincidence which lead you here."

"Good thing they did," he growled softly

She supressed her immediate come-back at him and took a deep breath. Turning to move closer to the opposite the wall, her back ramrod straight, Naoto shook her head. "This just now was not my first encounter with Sonoda. He is all bluster and would not have actually harmed me. His behaviour is irrelevant." She leaned against the wall and folded her arms tightly over her chest. "Particularly right now."

The moment she said it, she tsk’ed and shook her head. A problem, which seemed to often emerge near Kanji Tatsumi: Saying more than she intended. He was very much aware of her and her moods, and did not need large hints to pick up on smaller, unspoken commentary.

He sighed. "That bad, huh?"

Naoto gazed up at him, trying to distract him with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"The contest," he continued, turning away from the mirror to face her. "S'why you're hiding in here."

She bristled immediately. "I am not in hiding." The words were quick, crisp, and totally unconvincing, especially to her own ear. She pinched her eyes shut before he even spoke up.

His rebuttal was as swift and harsh as she had thought it would be. "Quit pretending, alright?" Then, with a hint of softness in his gruff voice, "Nobody'd blame you."

"I wasn't-" she began, then stopped with a tiny shake of her head as her own thoughts were drowned out.

_alwayslyingalwayslyingtohimhedoesnotdeserveyourlies_

_'No one does, Sukuna-Hikuna-kun...'_

Kanji exhaled loudly, recapturing her attention. She heard the smile in his voice as he gently spoke up. "C'mon. I already had to talk one guy outa'a bathroom today and you're way tougher than Hanamura."

Naoto managed something close to a half-smile, but could not find an answer. She still felt unable to look Kanji in the eye.

"Ya don't hafta be in it, yeah? Told ya that already."

And this, while true, was also part of the problem now. She did not have to be. She had done her basic dues. She showed up and let herself get humiliated in front of everyone. She also knew that the damage had been done. Her real gender was out there, as the events from a few minutes ago had clearly shown. There was little to be gained from balking at this point.

From the outside, there was a furious shout. "Kanji-kun!! If Naoto-kun locked herself in there, just bust the door down!"

A scandalised "Chie!" followed by a squeaked "Senpai!"

Naoto looked towards the exit, feeling trapped between her pride to stay and her need to take him up on the offer to flee.

"I don't wish to disappoint anyone," she finally muttered, her fingers curling absently around her left cuff. "Or to contradict Narukami-senpai."

Kanji frowned. "He said you couldn't drop out?"

"Of course not! Senpai would never-" Would never... what, precisely? The boy had a mischievous streak a mile wide when he wanted to, she knew. His random flirting with her - or, indeed, any of the girls - was but one sign of his nature that shone through the calm facade of a collected leader.  But would he forcibly forbid anyone to do something they felt unease with? "He is not like that."

"Right, right." The boy seemed to struggle for words for a few. "Heard you guys were gettin' along. Hangin' out."

That much was true. Though something about the way he said it bothered her. "Narukami-senpai is assisting me with a personal matter." _No, that is not quite..._ "A minor one." Her eyes had fixed on a floor tile a step or so to Kanji's left. One of the tiles to form a geometric pattern was offset there, a minor thing that frequently caught her attention when she had been in this specific bathroom. When her mind drifted. "Nothing significant."

Silence hung on after this, only underlined by the steady stream of outrage from beyond the door outside. The boy's unease was thick in the unspoken words between them, but what he felt unease about was not something she was able to figure out at this time.

He had been sent on an errand, she finally decided, and she was delaying him. The yelling outside at times was directed at him, too. Telling him to just carry her out ("Princess Style, Kanji!", Rise-san had supplied at that), telling him to hurry it up, telling him he had better not come out without her in some form or another.

Crossing her arms, the girl huffed at a particularly crude shout from outside.

"Naoto...at least come outside, yeah?" he tried. "Contest won't be that bad. Ours was alright."

She flicked her eyes up and mutely stared at him.

He deflated. "Okay, it sucked. But s'over now and nobody's gonna laugh at you like they did us."

"Neither Rise nor I were laughing." She shook her head, trying to dispel the immediate image of her classmate in the changing area. "But this - it - it is different for you." She pressed her palm to her forehead, eyes closed. "And this additional section! What was Teddy _thinking_? He can't declare such a change unilaterally," the girl continued, rapid and firm. Her thoughts were speeding up, running through more thoughts than she could put into words.  "It will have to go to a vote, I'm absolutely not - this is ridiculous, Kanji-kun, we have a murder case to pursue and we're wasting time on a pointless spectacle!"

Kanji hesitated, watching her pace back and forth in front of the mirror while she ranted. When he finally interjected, it was with as much force as he could muster. "Hey...what's wrong?"

Naoto stopped dead, glanced up at him for a half-second, then turned and leaned forward against the bathroom counter.

What, precisely, was wrong? The case? No. The case was a thing that, while it was there and a present thing, did not really mean much in all of this. Her embarrassment? In itself, no. It was part of more. The real issue, was the same reason she had been angry at Kanji before. She would be ousted as not just female by birth, but feminine. Frail. An object.

And she hated the thought; hated it nearly as much as being the dreamed-up detective prince. She was neither. Not the cutting-edge, sharp boy detective and not the seductive bathing-suited beauty. But the first one had been forced unto her... and now it seemed the other would be.

"I-I thought I could - the contest, it did not appear so astringent before." Both her hands were gripping the counter's edge. "But this - there is...  no way, none, and I do not care how much Chie-senpai threatens me or what Narukami-senpai says or what you -" The sentence ended with a sharp shake of her head. No. not him.

Never Kanji Tatsumi. Not the boy who seemed to be accepting and supportive of her in any situation. Even before he knew who she really is, _what_ she really is, he had only shown care and concern. Never him.

She felt her muscles tightening as she leaned forward.

"Rise'll be up there with you," Kanji offered. "She don't mind."

Naoto's glare could have withered a cactus. "Of course she would not. Her sole complaint has been that she had not known to bring her own swimsuit," she all but spat at her reflection.

"...Yeah, s'true. But it ain't all bad, y'know?"

"You just -" she began, but again immediately stopped. 'Do not understand'? But he seemed to do. Everything he said was an encouragement. "My situation is different to both yours and Rise-san's."

Frustration swung in every tone of her unsteady voice and Naoto was not sure if she much cared. Hunched over the sink, feeling slightly ill at ease from the emotional turmoil and having someone bear witness to it, she heaved a deep sigh.

Kanji shifted and she looked into the mirror to watch him as he nodded toward the door. "I-I can tell the others, if you like. That you're not gonna show."

The girl bit her lip uncertainly. He would. He would if she just asked. She knew that, like a loyal Watson to her Sherlock, all she had to do was ask of him. As their gazes held, all she felt was his honest desire to help her. And while welcome, it felt strangely unfamiliar as well. She was used to fighting for her needs. No matter how small, no matter which setting; if she had a need, her only way was to see to a solution herself.

And then there was Kanji Tatsumi. Offering.

 "No," she said firmly. "No, I'm being childish. I will go." _I will not ask this of you._

She would have expected her Persona to stir at all of this, but since the confrontations throughout the day, the little shimmer that was him had been oddly silent.

"Okay. I mean, if y'want." He shrugged and moved his shoulder uncertainly, as if to ease a tense muscle.

"I will go," she repeated, her voice shaking a lot less. "But…" She turned her gaze to stare into the sink. "I thank you for the offer. And..." She was unsure how to express her gratitude for being this unknown, this source of new options. "While... while I cannot and will not condone your entirely unnecessary behaviour toward Sonoda," she flicked her gaze up at him and returned it back to the sink. "I... appreciated the assistance." With that, she turned and walked toward the bathroom door.

"H-Hey, wait a sec."

Feeling an unexplainable shiver run down her spine, Naoto stopped at the corner of the corridor and glanced back over her shoulder.

On impulse, Kanji seemed to have reached out a hand. He dropped his hand to his side. "Good luck, yeah?"

Something had been left unspoken yet again. But his helpless concession in well-wishes did strengthen her resolve somewhat. She watched him, and if she had to be honest, she waited to see if the unspoken words would follow. No matter what they were. An explanation of why he wanted to help her. A recommendation what to do out there. Anything.

But nothing more was said.

She nodded ever so slightly. "Thank you, Kanji-kun."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooof. August was the last one? So sorry to keep you all waiting. A mix of long work hours, more responsibilities, personal exhaustion and a new boyfriend all contributed - though the new BF is actually a huge reason we got this chapter now!


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